Last updated on April 13th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
I told myself that once I made my way through my never-ending pile of paper, I’d get myself a Nintendo Switch with the latest Mario and Zelda games to reward myself for all the hard work. Which is great, because getting months ahead in my content by getting all of this done is the only way I’d find the time to play them.
But if you’re new around these parts, my problem with paper’s not entirely new.
It’s not the paper itself that’s the problem—I’m my most creative when I write things out by hand—but all that creativity leads to a ton of unfinished ideas, piling up to the sky as they await the finishing touches that’ll let me share them with the world! I’ve kept a high standard for my work—easy wins like question posts and blindly following trends isn’t my style… I’m trying to create content that’ll forever outlast me. We’re in a world right now where few want to invest in anything needing more than a few minutes of their time, but I’d rather not sell my soul for the sake of popularity.
There’re bigger prizes at hand.
Is the sacrifice worth it?
If you’re starting a blog for the sake of money, there are far quicker ways to get your hands on some.
— paraphrasing another blogger
You reach a point where the smart course of action is to get more from a few things than try and do it with a million. In 2018, though for the first time I accepted it’d be no less busy than any year that came before it, a change in tactics was long overdue.
I don’t see my friends anymore. I have cards from celebrations past that I never got to send because I never stop to do anything other than work. This isn’t 2011 where I could blog, work, be married and goof around. I have kids. More responsibility. And after somewhere around 150 brand partnerships for everything from telecommunications to toilets… it all got a bit more complicated.
I don’t necessarily regret my decisions—I feel like I’m doing everything I can to be the best husband and father I can—but I’m not the Casey I was when I started this journey. I’ve forgotten how to relax. It’s rare for me to be without a pen, as I spend every waking moment crafting ideas so that one day I won’t have to anymore. It’s an ongoing battle against this beast I’ve built for myself, and I’m not entirely sure that I’m winning.
But it’s a mess I created, so I’m working hard to sort it out and give each part of my life the care and attention it deserves.
I think I have some busy months ahead of me.
One day, I’ll be able to put stellar content out AND sleep an eight-hour night!
“Your Facebook makes me tired.”
— entirely too many people
I should’ve known I was in for one heckuva year when I couldn’t even find the time to start it with one of my infamous lists of a hundred goals.
But maybe that’s precisely what I had to learn—that life’s too complicated to make it all work with a list. That even with all these ideas jotted down on the countless notepads in my life, perhaps there’s something more significant I can achieve if I can write enough to see past it all and keep moving forward with my life.
Maybe it’s time to become more than just a blogger.
If I’m looking forward to anything in the next year, it’s exploring new horizons—going into the great unknown. That might mean hiring some staff. Or trying my hand at something that’s not writing—webcomics, infographics and my podcast have been calling my name for a while. The game’s changed, and I need to develop a brand that reflects that—one not so mired in the ideas of old I’ve toyed with for years now but can handle every new opportunity that comes along with the energy and imagination it deserves.
It’s time to give the world a new Casey Palmer, Content Creator.
Y’all ain’t ready.
Thanks for taking this journey with me so far, and until the next, I remain,
