Tag: writing

Casey Palmer 2020: Growing Up For Once.

Casey Palmer 2020: Growing Up For Once (Featured Image)

Last updated on November 8th, 2020 at 12:18 am

January 29, 2020—we’re almost a month into the new year; I wouldn’t be surprised if people thought that I quit?

But no, as usual, it’s quite the opposite—I’m working hard to reach the point where I don’t have to work this hard at all.

…let me explain.

Where We Left Off.

We ended 2019 with a post looking back at my last ten years, all the things I learned, and some of the hopes and dreams I had for the decade ahead.

But hoping and dreaming for things isn’t nearly enough to make them happen, so I hunkered down to start laying the groundwork for the future I saw ahead.

Hammering away blindly looking to stumble upon a result isn’t good enough, though—you can only work so hard. There are only so many hours in the day. You run out of steam, life distracts you, and if you’re not creating with an ongoing distribution strategy in mind, it means you’re shooting content off into the internet, never to see it again.

And when you’ve spent the better part of a decade putting well over a thousand posts out into the digital ether, let me tell you—that’s a lot of wasted potential.

But sometimes even the oldest dogs can learn new tricks, and that’s what squirrelled away this last little bit.

That said, though we have a myriad of tools in 2020 to do fantastic work, do we have what it takes to use them?

I’m here! I’M HERE! Find out what I’m up to! “Casey Palmer 2020: Growing Up For Once.”

Destroy and Rebuild

Last updated on March 30th, 2021 at 09:23 am

I know many bloggers who make their reputation in a specific genre based more on their interaction with people via Twitter and at parties than by actually writing blog posts.

A friend who doesn’t fit this scenario at all has a saying… ‘I’m not a blogger I just talk a lot’. What’s strange about that saying is that he best describes the so-called ‘famous bloggers’ more than he describes himself. The dude actually has good content and close to 700 blog posts over nearly five years!

…[Casey] lives the dream family- and job-wise but still finds time to fork out nearly a blog a week. I’m pretty sure he’s Clark Kent by day and the Superman of the blogs by night. But as his quote goes, he obviously feels that the words aren’t enough.”

— Eric Freedlander, “When the Words Weren’t Enough We Had Milk“

It’s been half a decade since my buddy Eric wrote these words about me, but they’ve only grown truer over time. The fam’s grown bigger. The job more complex. I’m still churning content on the daily.

But though the hustle’s still real, a lot changes over time—let me tell you a bit about what my #BloggerLife’s like today.

DESTROY | Blogging Ain’t Like It Used To Be.

It’s been a long time since what I do was “just blogging”. I’ve obsessively raised the bar time and time again since the turn of the decade, seeing the brand evolve into something unrecognisable from its beginnings. I swapped consistency out for quality and socialising out for scribing. I needed to see how high I could reach before I closed this chapter of my life.

But this gig ain’t easy.

DESTROY | You Can’t Do the Same Thing Forever and Expect the Same Results.

Anthony Sistilli put it well when he shared his story of mastering StarCraft II on Medium. His take on his journey was this:

“Breaking my plateaus felt like rebuilding myself from scratch… [t]here were cracks in my foundation, gaps in my understanding, and a lot of things that needed refining. I had to reinvent the way I played. In order to go higher I had to break it down and rebuild it up again.”

When you stop feeling like you’re growing, it’s time for some serious self-evaluation, and figure out whether you’re doing the things you should be doing.

And Anthony’s right—there are so many of us who’ve been at this since forever, but we haven’t made it big because we haven’t tapped into what makes each of us unique and stand out from the crowd.

CONTINUE READING about what I’ve learned as a blogger and what has to come next! “Destroy and Rebuild”

Papier

Last updated on April 4th, 2021 at 06:31 pm

It’s the same thing every time—sit down, pull out my stack of paper and rifle through it ’til I find something good to write about. Sometimes I come up short. Sometimes I find a gem. I never quite know what I’ll find, but the one thing I know’s that I’ll always wander back to my palace of paper with hundreds of half-formed thoughts waiting to spring to life!

A Slave to My Machinations—What it Takes to Put Out a Post

I’ll probably never escape my process.

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

The most significant problem of this empire of paper I’ve built for myself is that it takes so long to transform ideas into posts that at times it feels like I’m not making progress at all.

CONTINUE READING about my ongoing battle with my empire of paper and what I plan to do about it! “Papier”

Why I Do What I Do.

Last updated on May 3rd, 2021 at 01:22 am

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

“I feel like most of your posts are apologies for not posting more.”

— a Facebook friend on my post “Serenity Now“

The Last 60 Days.

T.G.I.N., y’all—Thank Goodness It’s November!

With another Halloween in the books (and less of a haul than the year before, but hey—I hear transitioning from naps will do that to you), I’m finally free to turn my eyes to the rest of 2017 and what it yet has in store—a perfect time to take one last run at unfinished resolutions and dangling loose ends.

With sixty days left in the year (not including today), it’d be all too easy to bow out and rest. 2017’s vastly exceeded my expectations in ways I’d never imagined, but it’s not without cost. My triple life’s an unyielding one, but I’d likely give up a thousand nights’ rest if it meant I could continue chasing my ambitions.

I guess you could call me obsessed. With potential, with growth, obsessed with the freakin’ hustle… it’s tiring work, but I’d have it no other way—it’s what I need to do to get where I want to be.

But in this drive to become my best self, some fear I’ve lost my way—that money and opportunity have led me astray, and that the Casey who got me this far’s a memory… but that’s not it at all.

CONTINUE READING my first post of November and why I continue my quest to write! “Why I Do What I Do.”

The 2017 100

Last updated on April 1st, 2021 at 01:08 am

Unless my life sees some major changes this year, 2017 may mark the last list of 100!

It’s January 13th—I’ve spent nearly two weeks of my new year agonising over 100 items that matter enough to hit a list of goals and aspirations for the year ahead. And that’s a key difference from the lists that came before it.

Before it was a task list—I’d look around at everything that needed doing and jot it down, because my life would obviously be better with them out of the way.

But task lists aren’t inspiring. They’re not motivational. As a creative, that’s like dropping a pile of 100 things I dread on my lap and nagging myself to get ’em done by the year’s end.

Once I realised what I was doing to myself, so much so that I just went through my least successful year yet for my list, I knew I needed to make a change for 2017.

I’m particularly proud of the list I’ve put together for The 2017 100. I didn’t take any shortcuts—I wrote out 100 things that’d help me live the life I’d like to lead and prove instrumental along the path there. Rather than hurriedly scrawl out a list I’d likely ignore ’til December, I wrote one that I’d happily check off, knowing that each accomplishment would take me a step closer to a far better 2018. I feel like I’m finally getting it right this time, and I hope that shines through as you give it a look for yourself!

But that’s enough of my chatter—I’ve already made you wait long enough. Here for your consideration is The 2017 100—because it’s not what you do… it’s how you do it!

CONTINUE READING to see The 2017 100 and all I hope to accomplish this year! “The 2017 100”
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