02: Maybe You Haven't Lost Your Passion

Welcome to Reflections, where I store my extra thoughts about the journey of creating The 1:1 Memo and life as a creative person.

If you're reading this and haven't read my first post, you can find the link here. In that post, I reflected on what I learned about consistency after completing my 60-day challenge. 

I learned a lot in 60 days. And if I'm being honest, there were days I didn't want to post a Memo at all. I mean days when all of the content was ready to post and all I had to do was click a button. Days that I doubted myself, my motivation, my abilities. I even started to wonder, "if I'm experiencing doubts this early, when the project is so small, should I even continue?"

After all, action follows passion, right?

Well, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. 

Between the beginning and end of those 60 days, I knew I hadn't lost my passion for The 1:1 Memo. In fact, my passion was growing. Posting made me feel good and I knew it was helping someone. Instead, it was energy that I was losing because on some days, I had nothing left to give. 

There were days when I still had to post after already working eight or more hours. I had run all the errands I physically could. I walked Toni, paid a bill, scheduled a doctor's appointment, somehow did laundry, and called my mom. 

Doing one more thing, even a really good thing, felt like too high a price to pay. (And yes, there are apps in place to set up posts in advance. But some of the Memos I write feel unique to the day and I want to labor over them a little longer.)

So by the time I sat down to write or review a post, I was spent. And even though I enjoyed checking a bunch of boxes off my list, I wasn't getting that high feeling of accomplishment.

So what do you do on the days when passion follows action?

It helps to create a predictable situation, an easily attainable goal that provides immediate satisfaction and contributes to your goal. I mean as simple as 1+1=2, where "2" is all you need.

Because we rarely get the harvest immediately after sowing a seed. And that doesn't diminish the importance of sowing and the reward of patience.

I had to learn to rely on small, predictable achievements that were meaningful enough to keep up the momentum.

On the days where passion followed action, I used a simple 1+1=2 scenario, and if/then statements that provided immediate results and met the emotional need I had. Such as, if I did post, then I completed another Memo. Completing another Memo brought me one step closer to completing the goal. Being one step closer made me feel confident and successful. Someone might see it and be encouraged that day.

"Just post real quick," I'd tell myself as a result.

My passion couldn't depend on the harvest. That would mean I wasn't doing it for the right reason anyway. I had to find an action that reminded me why I was creating The 1:1 Memo it in the first place.

Hopefully, this inspires you to keep going as well. Find a goal that's simple enough as 1+1=2 and "2" is all you need to feel accomplished.

Talk soon,
Kiara Walker