Marie Forleo is one of my favorite thought leaders. Her energy, insight, and generosity inspire me. I completed her B-School in 2018. I follow her to this day – referencing her content and watching Marie TV. She asks these year-in-review questions.

What did I do, create, or experience this year that I am really proud of?

I am proud of the focus I have given to the Wide-Awakeness Project in 2020. Since I started it in 2007, I am not sure I ever went all in to the extent I did this year. In the depths of pandemic isolation, I began a weekly newsletter of daily posts, Weekly Wide-Awake. I started a Books Falling Club. I also continued my work on Gratitude Conversations. The consistency with which I have posted this year has made me a better writer. The number of books I have read this year has made me a better writer, too. I am grateful for the clarity and focus, at this time when clarity and focus are in short supply, that daily reading and writing has provided. I am grateful for the writing rhythm I found. I am grateful for the community, if only on page and screen, I have found, too.

What mistakes did I make that taught me something? What lessons did I learn that I can leverage?

The biggest mistakes I made this year that taught me something centered on the fact that frequency of posting on my blog did not necessarily increase blog traffic. I joined a blogging resource community in April. I made low level changes to my blog infrastructure during the summer. Unfortunately, I saw no increase in blog traffic. I can leverage those lessons, and ultimately build my blog traffic, trying a few new things in 2021: 1. Submitting articles to prominent blogs. 2. Developing book proposals. 3. Completing gratitude conversation transcriptions. 4. Submitting proposals to publishers and agents. 5. Contunue daily blogging.

What is one limiting story you’re ready to let go of?

I am ready to let go of the story I am not a writer. I am ready to let go of the story that no one wants to read what I write. I am ready to let go of the story that our stories don’t really matter. These are all part of the same limiting story. I know am not the only writer who has to quiet the monkey mind of negativity. It makes me feel better to know I am not alone in both repeatedly telling myself a limiting story and repeatedly having to let the story go. Years ago, I used to write at a coffee shop everyday. I was one of many writers who wrote there. I wrote alongside young adult fiction writers, writers who translated English text books into German, and slasher novelists who dabbled in philosophy for fun, to name just a few. Their presence was evidence that I could be a writer if a I showed up every day and wrote. Putting in the work matters. Reminding myself that I am a writer – even/especially when I spiral in doubt and feel disconnected from my path – and that I can improve and succeed in that space matters. Finding the joy in the cracks and crevasses of the craft matters. I learned it makes more sense to put energy into writing than holding on to the limiting story that I can’t.