Being Blog • Podcast

So…I have made the decision to take a break from Chapter Be for a few months. My hope is that by stepping away from the site and all that goes with the day-to-day operations of it, I will be able to see more clearly what my next steps should be. I have become so wrapped up in the daily posts, interviews and logistics of making a podcast happen each week, that I fear I have lost sight of my bigger mission and goals.

Over the last few years, I have come to recognize that I have some rather intense leanings toward being a “good soldier.” I create a structure and follow it to a tee – fearful of straying away from it. These traits are what make me a good and hard worker, but they also are what can take me away from following my gut or thinking creatively or making a change or taking a risk.  All of this goes against the grains of what Chapter Be is and what I was hoping to move away from in my 9-5 job. So, as it turns out – habits do die hard.

I have to thank Seth Godin for helping me realize that taking a break is something that I need to do in order to move forward with Chapter Be. In listening to his podcast, Startup School, I had a bit of a break-though when I heard him say,

The reason everyone doesn’t do this is it’s really frightening and you get very little support from the people around you to do this very difficult, scary work of putting yourself out there and saying, ‘Hi, this is me. I made this. ‘ And – if you make it and people don’t see the value, you don’t give up. You remake it.

I’ve been frustrated with Chapter Be, as of late, and have felt like it is somewhat stagnant. My feeling is that I need to breathe new life into it. It needs to be remade. I have grown over the last two years of its creation, and now it needs to grow with me – ready to move to it’s next stage of being or maybe stay in a pause position until I am ready to pick it back up again.

The next few months will help me decide this. By taking a step away from the day-to-day, I hope to be able to do a little deeper, strategic thinking. I want to re-center myself and think about creative ways that I can expand, grow and change Chapter Be to be more aligned to where I am now on my path. I am going to reflect back on the 50+ interviews I have done for Chapter Be and start putting some of the interviewees’ sage advice to practice for myself.

And, if I am completely honest, my computer is slowly killing me. Some days I sit in front of it for 10+ hours (researching, corresponding, coordinating, writing, editing, etc.). It is not healthy and not the way I want to be spending a bulk of my time. Part of what made me so unhappy in my 9-5 job was sitting in front of a computer all day long. So…here I am…doing the same thing.

I want to find ways to be working with people more and engaged in what is happening in communities in a hands-on way. That is important to me, and I need to take the time to figure out how I can make that happen. I might be reaching out to some of you in the days to come for feedback and perspective.

In the same podcast, Godin retells the following Zig Ziglar story: You are on a flight from New York City to Dallas, and heavy winds blow the plane off-course. The plane doesn’t turn around, land in NY and start over. It just adjusts its course and keeps adjusting its course till it gets to Dallas. As he explains, you are going to have things that don’t work – you just adjust and learn from it.

So – I am adjusting and letting the winds take me on this detour. I’ll continue my #365justbe project and will be semi-active on social media, but will not be posting any new posts or interviews.

I am not sure if the next stop will be “Dallas,” but either way – hope to see you there.

Listen to the message…