Starting fresh ~ I am the queen of the "fresh start." I love to start things over, like budgets, lists, plans ~ anything that I can't seem to finish, I just decide to start over. I'm pretty sure that this can be a useful strategy for a lot of things, but sometimes it seems like it's just an escape from something that isn't working. When do you just move on?
Starting over a list because it's gotten out of control and you have so many checks and marks and scribbles that you can't even see what's still on the list seems like a good use of the "fresh start" strategy.
Starting over a recipe when you've been trying to multi-task and have doubled some ingredients but not everything and you've completely forgotten few ingredients, also seems like a good time to "start fresh."
Starting over a budget because priorities have changed, line items have morphed and your current software makes it difficult to modify too much seems reasonable. Starting over a budget because you don't like the numbers seems futile.
I'm thinking about giving my blog a fresh start ~ my current platform is really set up for a personal blog. If it is to become part of my "work", it may make sense to start it over and rebuild using resources more designed for it's new purpose. The question is, am I considering a "fresh start" because it makes sense given my revised direction, or because trying to figure out ad's etc. on my current platform is hard? How hard does in need to be before it makes more sense to "start fresh?" Starting over on a new platform would probably mean asking for help, investing some resources in having someone who knows what they're doing help me out, or taking time away from other work to dig in a figure it out myself.
One of the tricky things about working for oneself, or doing work that is not compensated monetarily (being a mom, a volunteer, etc) is coming up with a way to value your time. When is it better to pay someone else to do something that I could do, but that they could do in significantly less time?
In business I've gotten better at figuring this out. I have a ballpark figure of what I "pay" myself. There are some tasks (like bookkeeping) that it is more economical to pay someone else to do because it would take me twice the time and end up costing more. With a blog that is not yet earning money, how do I decide when it's time to pay someone else to help get it up and running in a new way, assuming that those expenses will be recouped when I have a wildly successful blog, vs. just taking my time to figure it out at my leisure because I really have no idea whether it will turn into anything more than it is?
How do you value your time? As a mom and volunteer I struggle with placing a dollar value on myself. Where this can be so frustrating is that we live in a culture that puts a monetary value on everything - if something costs a lot it must be more valuable. When I look too closely at what this says about what we "value" as a country, I am so discouraged.
We spend unbelievable amounts of money on technology and other things, on concerts, on sporting events, meals out and entertainment of all sorts. We pay for what we value, so what does that say about how we value children and education? Childcare workers are some of the most poorly paid people in our country. Teachers in many parts of the country have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. We "pay" for college degrees, but we don't "pay" the very people who are teaching our students what they need to learn - in many academic settings the actual professors are paid for research while graduate assistants who are still students themselves are being paid poorly to "teach" college students. What are we actually paying for here? Facilities, a "name", layers of bureaucracy. This is something I'd like to dive into more later, but it's a whole other blog!
When do we decide to make a "fresh start?" Is that even possible? When do we decide that rather than fixing a political system, or an educational system or any kind of "system," that it's time for a "fresh start?" A "clean slate?" While all this gets mulled about, I'm going to go create a fresh list for the week - Monday is a great day for a "fresh start."
Starting over a list because it's gotten out of control and you have so many checks and marks and scribbles that you can't even see what's still on the list seems like a good use of the "fresh start" strategy.
Starting over a recipe when you've been trying to multi-task and have doubled some ingredients but not everything and you've completely forgotten few ingredients, also seems like a good time to "start fresh."
Starting over a budget because priorities have changed, line items have morphed and your current software makes it difficult to modify too much seems reasonable. Starting over a budget because you don't like the numbers seems futile.
I'm thinking about giving my blog a fresh start ~ my current platform is really set up for a personal blog. If it is to become part of my "work", it may make sense to start it over and rebuild using resources more designed for it's new purpose. The question is, am I considering a "fresh start" because it makes sense given my revised direction, or because trying to figure out ad's etc. on my current platform is hard? How hard does in need to be before it makes more sense to "start fresh?" Starting over on a new platform would probably mean asking for help, investing some resources in having someone who knows what they're doing help me out, or taking time away from other work to dig in a figure it out myself.
One of the tricky things about working for oneself, or doing work that is not compensated monetarily (being a mom, a volunteer, etc) is coming up with a way to value your time. When is it better to pay someone else to do something that I could do, but that they could do in significantly less time?
In business I've gotten better at figuring this out. I have a ballpark figure of what I "pay" myself. There are some tasks (like bookkeeping) that it is more economical to pay someone else to do because it would take me twice the time and end up costing more. With a blog that is not yet earning money, how do I decide when it's time to pay someone else to help get it up and running in a new way, assuming that those expenses will be recouped when I have a wildly successful blog, vs. just taking my time to figure it out at my leisure because I really have no idea whether it will turn into anything more than it is?
How do you value your time? As a mom and volunteer I struggle with placing a dollar value on myself. Where this can be so frustrating is that we live in a culture that puts a monetary value on everything - if something costs a lot it must be more valuable. When I look too closely at what this says about what we "value" as a country, I am so discouraged.
We spend unbelievable amounts of money on technology and other things, on concerts, on sporting events, meals out and entertainment of all sorts. We pay for what we value, so what does that say about how we value children and education? Childcare workers are some of the most poorly paid people in our country. Teachers in many parts of the country have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. We "pay" for college degrees, but we don't "pay" the very people who are teaching our students what they need to learn - in many academic settings the actual professors are paid for research while graduate assistants who are still students themselves are being paid poorly to "teach" college students. What are we actually paying for here? Facilities, a "name", layers of bureaucracy. This is something I'd like to dive into more later, but it's a whole other blog!
When do we decide to make a "fresh start?" Is that even possible? When do we decide that rather than fixing a political system, or an educational system or any kind of "system," that it's time for a "fresh start?" A "clean slate?" While all this gets mulled about, I'm going to go create a fresh list for the week - Monday is a great day for a "fresh start."
Should "Life" have a sunset law? As you have stated there are times when you have to start anew or be reaffirmed. If you pursue the topic, I am sure the blog will be excellent.
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