I have followed best selling author and thought leader Seth Godin for years. His writing is funny and thought provoking. He is encouraging, inspiring, challenging, and creative. Learning how to freelance with heart, skill, vision, and strategy makes sense to me.

I took his Udemy course for aspiring entrepreneurs in 2016. There are exercises within the course. Participants are encouraged to share their responses to each exercise. In the spirit of sharing my Living Wide-Awakeness process, I have decided to share mine via my blog.

Below are my responses to the questions to the Who Are You? exercise.

What do you want to do? (Not your job, but your work, now, tomorrow, and in the future.) 

I am about 6 months in to writing Living Wide-Awakeness. (Right now, I am shopping my proposal.) I want to be a writer and teacher. I have spent my adult life pursuing my love of writing, the arts, and education. When the concept of wide-awakeness was introduced to me in graduate school, it grabbed something in my soul and has never let go. No matter where I have been, what I have been doing, what I have been learning, or with whom I have been studying, my thoughts turn to wide-awakeness. I want to learn and share what I learn to strengthen people, communities, and our world.

Who do you want to change, and how do you want to change them?

Change in the world begins with change in ourselves. I want to continue my physical, spiritual, and intellectual journey to learn and grow and love. I want positive change in my life to lead to positive change in friends and loved ones, my community, and my world via my work: my writing, teaching, and leadership. I want to bring a team of courageous, compassionate, diligent, and smart people together to make the world kinder, healthier, and more peaceful.

How much risk? (from 1 [a little] to 10 [bet everything]), how much are you willing to put at stake to make the change you seek?

Building an idea that is close to your heart is the definition of high risk. The fear that someone might criticize your idea, or tell you it can’t be done, or even put barriers in your way can be reason enough to stay silent and stuck. I don’t choose silence. I don’t choose to be stuck. I am willing to take a big risk. I am all in. I have taken classes about book proposals, blogging, personal essays, query letters, and creative non-fiction (and that was after graduate school). I have followed expert writing advice, studied wide-awakeness, and written about wide-awakeness. Now I am ready to put thought in to action.

How much work are you willing to do to get there? Be specific about the tradeoffs.

I am willing to focus my energy, create a sound strategy, and act on my plan. I am willing to sit and write, send out proposals and article ideas, endure silence and rejection, keep sending out proposals and article ideas, blog, study, learn, allow my process to evolve, stay positive, and reach out for help.

Does this project matter enough for the risk and the effort you’re putting into it?

Absolutely. I believe with every fiber of my being that my work is to live a wide-awake life, develop the concept of wide-awakeness through my work, and share wide-awakeness with others. If this idea did not matter, I would have given up on it years ago. It is worth the risk and effort.

Is it possible — has anyone with your resources ever pulled off anything like this?

Yes. I have learned a great deal from following like-minded writers and thinkers over the years. Though I am not sure what resources they had to start, I have watched their work evolve. I have read their books. I have posted on their blogs. I have participated in their webinars. I have even purchased their coaching services. I have learned from them. I can model my plan from their successful example.