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There is a scene in the movie The Social Network, where Mark Zuckerberg is being sued and is attending a deposition. The opposing attorney notices that Mark seems distracted, and this is the interaction:

Attorney: “Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?”
Mark (with a tone of exasperation): “No.”
The attorney: “Do you think I deserve your full attention?”
Mark: “You have part of my attention. You have the minimum amount.”

If you are a writer or creator sharing online, I am going to bet that you have felt this way before. That here you are sharing something important and…. if people notice it at all, they seem to give it the minimum amount of attention. It may look something like this on social media:

• You have followers, but no one engages. No likes, comments, reshares.
• Someone does see your post while scrolling, and clicks ‘like’ after a millisecond, then keeps scrolling.
• You have followers, but when you look at the metrics, you feel that the algorithm of the social network isn’t actually showing your posts to these followers.

This can also play itself out in other ways. For me, I spent 15 years sharing 31,000 posts on Twitter, amassing lots of followers and engagement. But then someone new bought it, the network changed, and my core audience left.

Another way this can happen is what happened to a writer I work with: after years of developing a following on Facebook, one day her account disappeared. Somehow it got flagged for doing something that went against their terms of service (which she never did), and they deleted it with no possible recourse to bring it back. Thousands of followers and interactions gone in an instant.

I often write about what I call Human-Centered Marketing, and how you as a writer can feel good about sharing what you create and engaging with your audience in meaningful ways. But too often, we get sidetracked by metrics that don’t matter, such as the number of followers, or likes, or views.

Why could these numbers not matter? I mean, isn’t 10,000 followers better than 100 followers? Better because it means more people may see what you share, like what you share, and fuel word-of-mouth marketing for your work? Sure, that is definitely possible. What is also possible though is that a writer spends energy in these places, only to realize:“My books aren’t selling, people aren’t showing up to my events, I’m not getting reviews, and no one seems to care.”

Reminder: Join me for my new workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack!Understand who your ideal readers are, where to find them, and how to convert them into subscribers on your Substack. The live event is Friday January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. A full recording is provided to all who register. Register Here!

I have spoken to so many writers over the years who tell me that even though they have thousands of subscribers — or in some cases tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers — they have no idea who their audience really is. Or in some cases, they feel like they have the “wrong audience,” one that expects something from them that they no longer want to create. And they are paralyzed in this place where they are afraid to change for fear of disappointing this audience they don’t really know.

Suddenly, 10,000 followers doesn’t indicate the validation and connection we hope it does, but rather, a faceless mass of confusing expectations.

When someone subscribes to your email newsletter, they aren’t just a number on a list. They are someone who is showing up to embrace what you share each week. I want you to feel empowered to understand the process of encouraging people to truly engage with what you write and why.

What is the opposite of getting minimum attention? Something like this:

1. When you have a group — even a small group — of people who truly love what you create. An easy way to think of this is the top 10% of your supporters. So, if you have 100 subscribers or followers, maybe 10 who really show up for all that you do. Having 10 people who support you that manner can truly change your life in profoundly good ways.
2. Having consistent access to your biggest supporters. This is part of why I have always appreciated email newsletters, because I have permission to email them, as well as a consistent way to do so via their email address. This is something I didn’t have when my audience left Twitter. I could encourage them to follow me elsewhere, but no persistent way to connect with each of them unless they took an action to sign up for my list or engage with me elsewhere.
3. When these people take actions to support you in the ways that mean the most to you. Perhaps that is buying your book, or posting a review for it when it releases, recommending your book to a local book club, subscribing to your paid newsletter, taking a course from you, recommending you as a guest on a podcast, or something else that you truly value.

In sales, there is this term: “conversion.” Often, it is meant to represent when someone goes from potentially buying what you offer, to actually purchasing it. They “converted” from a prospect to a customer, in sales lingo.

Conversion isn’t just a number. It can also be a meaningful experience between people. Let me show you an example of full attention and deep engagement. This is Teri Case and Cathey Nickell:

Teri published a new novel this week, Finding Imogene, and Cathey is a children’s book author. They met around 2016 in a mastermind group I ran for writers. They stayed in touch, becoming friends. The photo above is their first in-person meeting last year! Teri said that the Acknowledgments section of her novel is “packed with six-degrees-of-Dan-Blank creatives,” meaning a range of people she met somehow through me. To be clear: Teri is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met and did so much to connect with others and stay connected. These are people who support her work, are colleagues, and even friends. They are the people who make up her life as a writer. And of course, Teri and I have spoken and collaborated many times over the years.

As you consider how you share, focus on the people, not the numbers.

If we consider a traditional marketing funnel, the first step is awareness. This is where someone first learns about your writing. What we hope is that they then move down the funnel, becoming interested in your work, considering if they want to spend more time with it, converting to a reader, reading it consistently, and then advocating for it with others.

But so many writers remain stuck at the top of the marketing funnel.

They are focused on making people vaguely aware of their work and stall out there. They are unable to move them through the deeper stages of the funnel, encouraging interest, consideration, conversation, loyalty, and advocacy.

Being stuck at the top of the marketing funnel is when a writer has a lot of followers, but no book sales. When they look out into an empty audience of chairs who clicked “like” on the social media post about an event, but who didn’t bother to show up.

In the past year, I have seen a lot of writers and influencers leave social media. Many of them are focusing more on places that encourage the full attention of their biggest fans. A smaller, but more engaged audience.

This could be quitting Instagram, and focusing only on one’s paid Substack newsletter, as Emma Gannon is. Or how Jenny Nicholson stopped posting videos to her YouTube channel with 1 million followers in order to focus all of her attention on the 23,914 paying members of her Patreon.

They are focusing on doing less, and in doing so, spending their resources more effectively. They are giving their full attention to their biggest supporters and getting maximum attention back. What is created in the process? Hopefully more meaning, more moments, and more connections.

Recently Farrah Storr reflected on why she is focusing on Substack and not Instagram, saying:

“Like everyone else, I was naive when I joined Instagram. I signed up for no other reason than everyone I knew had signed up…. A thousand people followed me; then three thousand; then ten thousand, then twenty thousand. The pressure to perform to a crowd I knew nothing about, nor really cared about was both intense and nonsensical… Over the last decade I have shared more with my followers than I have with my own family. I have spent hours replying to DMs from nameless strangers who I never hear from again.”

For a lot of people in creative fields, they may have a fear of converting. They are nervous to be seen as trying too hard to get people to buy from them. In my book, Be the Gateway, I wrote about how normal social fear can often prevent us from taking actions to share what we create.

This is something I feel Substack has truly changed the game with: normalizing that it is okay for writers to suggest, “If you want to pay me for my writing, that would actually be nice.”

For the past 13 years, my full-time work has been helping writers share their work, launch their books, create marketing plans, and find their readers. I love that I get to work with writers on this every day. This week I shared a 15 minute video for my paid subscribers, giving an in-depth tour of my studio, along with some tips of what I feel are essential elements for any creative space:

It felt nice to share this with the people who are my biggest supporters, those who I want to bring into this trusted place.

As you consider sharing what you write with the world, I want to encourage you to not settle for minimum attention. Consider how you can deeply engage with your biggest supporters in ways that honor your limited resources, and maximizes the moments that matter in your life as a write.

And speaking of which, I’ve been hard at work finishing my next workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! The live event is Friday January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET, and a full recording is provided to all who register. More info and registration can be found here!

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

This is my 14th year of working full-time with writers, but well more than 20 years of working with writers day-to-day in various roles. Each morning, I sit in this studio and help writers launch their books, find growth in their platforms, create compelling marketing plans, learn the ins-and-outs of Substack, and find a sense of fulfillment in the process. Of course, this is all about readers — those wonderful people who are moved by what you write, and realize the potential inherent within it.

While there is so much value in the creative act itself — creating just to create — I often think that something magical happens when your writing connects with a reader. The equation works something like this:

Half of the magic is what you create — the craft, worldview, and vision that goes into your writing.

The other half of the magic is what the reader brings to it — how their unique perspective mixes with what you wrote. Their inner voice changes and morphs what you wrote in a way unique to that person.

These two halves equal more than 100%, and what is created is exponential. This is where your writing can save someone’s life, be a respite during an overwhelming time, inform and inspire, and impact how someone looks at themselves, the world, and the actions they take. This happens through all kinds of creative work, including fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, and so much else.

Yet, the reality for so many writers — including those here on Substack — can be a sense of frustration that they aren’t finding growth or connection with readers. I talk with writers about this all the time. They share a sense that they are writing and publishing, but it feels like they are spinning their wheels, stuck in the mud, and not connecting with anyone.

Substack is a powerful way that writers can share their writing. Today I am so excited to announce my next workshop: Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! It will take place on Friday, January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET. A full recording will be sent to all who register, so if you can’t make it live, please consider registering anyway. You can find full information and register here. In this workshop, I will be covering how to:

1. Clearly define your ideal readers.
2. Understand what engages these readers.
3. Develop strategies and tactics to convert these readers to subscribers.
4. Ensure these readers feel a part of something, and stay subscribed.

This workshop is the third part of a series I have been running about Substack:

Workshop #1: Launch & Grow Your Email Newsletter on Substack
Explore the step-by-step process to launch or grow your email newsletter.
Now available for instant access viewing here.

Workshop #2: Find Your Voice and Get Into Your Groove on Substack (and Beyond)
Know exactly what to share on Substack (and beyond), how to never run out of ideas that your readers will love, and how to create a simple system to do it all consistently, and in less time. Now available for instant access viewing here.

Workshop #3: Reach Your Ideal Readers and Grow Your Subscribers on Substack
Join me for a workshop that will help you understand who your ideal readers are, where to find them, and how to convert them into subscribers on your Substack. Friday, January 19, 2024, at 12:30pm ET, register here!

I hope you can join me for the upcoming workshop.

Embark on a Discovery Process

I encourage you to embark on a discovery process to find your ideal readers.

For the writers I work with, this looks different each day. Here are some examples from the past week of work I have been doing with writers to help them find their readers:

• Brainstorming book marketing ideas (and the plan to implement them) for a bestselling nonfiction author whose new book comes out later this year.
• Creating a detailed launch timeline for a novelist who has a new book coming out this year.
• Developing an editorial calendar for a writer on Substack, focusing on ways to get more engagement, and build upon their past success on the platform.
• Helping an author find more readers for their children’s book, a year after publication, and set the stage for the next book in the series.

Sometimes it can feel easy to look back on success, and reverse engineer that it was all part of a concise foolproof plan. And even though my days are spent in this work, the truth is that no one can promise you results.

I recently organized my studio and found my advance reader copies of books that I helped the authors launch. Both became New York Times bestsellers: Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, and The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia.

When these advanced copies were printed, did we have any idea that the books would sell enough to become bestsellers? Nope. Each author wrote amazing books, had incredible partners with their agents and publishers, had a team of people assisting in one way or another, and did so much work to get the book in front of readers. And… something worked. I’ve written case studies about these and other book launches, but I often feel they just showcase the tip of the iceberg of how these books found their readers.

This work of understanding one’s readers and engaging them matters. It is a process that can feel both delicate, and full of potential.

(You can find more about my work with writers here.)

Systems and Habits Give You a Process to Follow

I work from a methodology I created called The Creative Success Pyramid:

Is this plan a promise for success? No, it is a process to begin from, and to customize for your unique goals and challenges. Every step can be personalized for your preferences, your writing, and your ideal readers. What you create is unique, and how you find your readers will be as well.

I love helping writers with this because every day is different than the next. We are fulfilling the creative vision unique to each writer.

What Substack Teaches Us About Our Readers

For many writers, social media has been seen as the only way to engage their readers. Yet, I find there is a profound shift in going from “sharing with anyone” on social media, to “sharing with someone,” like you find on Substack and through email newsletters. On social media, it is common for writers to feel their follower are distant, faceless masses. But on Substack and with an email newsletter, these same writers are finally feeling a meaningful connection with real readers — those who choose to embrace what you create.

I have written a weekly email newsletter for 18 years. In some ways, the reasons writers are coming to Substack and loving it feel very familiar to me. They are the same reasons I loved having an email newsletter back in 2006, 2011, and 2016. You write something that you care deeply about, send it to readers who have given you permission to email them, and it actually is delivered to them, instead of getting lost in an algorithm on social media.

If you have been developing your own Substack publication and wondering how you can better connect with your ideal readers and find growth in the process, I encourage you to sign up for my new workshop, Find the Readers Who Will Love Your Substack! You can register here.

I’m curious: can you tell me about one time that you felt truly connected with your readers? It could be a specific conversation you had, email you received, place you went, action you took, or thing you shared. Let me know in the comments, I love hearing about moments when writers connect with readers!

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Do you feel burdened by all you feel you need to do in order to write, publish, and share that work with readers? Recently I have written about my process for finding clarity and growth, and along the way I noticed a critical dynamic that I want to discuss today: creative burden.

The other day, I scribbled down three words that seem to embody my intentions for the next year: CLARITY, CALM, and CRAFT. This is how these words translate for me:

1. Clarity: focus on creating what matters most to me, and having meaningful experiences with readers and those who inspire me. Cut away all else.
2. Calm: quell the anxiety, overwhelm, and comparisonitis that turns an otherwise lovely day into a nightmare of conflicting goals and challenges.
3. Craft: embrace the slow but meaningful process of simply doing the basics better. This applies to my writing, but also to how I help writers, and with everything I show up to.

These three words — clarity, calm, and craft — go deep. I am infusing them into my daily creative process, which I shared more about in this 20-minute video for paid subscribers titled, “My Daily Checklist for Writing and Reaching Readers.”

What tends to get in the way of creating and reaching readers? Creative burden. In the past few weeks, I have worked to clear away space in my life for more creative energy, creative time, and physical space to help the creative process. Along the way, I was confronted with creative burden. One possible definition of this phrase: Creative burden is the perceived responsibility of maintaining things that are slowing us down or are misaligned with our true goals. Today I want to explore how to identify this in your life and move past it. Let’s dig in…

Giving Away Your Creative Burden

I first heard the term “creative burden” from Tom Holkenborg. It felt amazing to give a name to this nagging feeling that felt so familiar. Tom is a composer, DJ, and musician who I have followed for years on YouTube. He first caught my attention when I saw a video showcasing his Los Angeles studio:

The wall behind him is one large synthesizer! Here he is actually using it, turning dials to modify the sound as it plays:

Tom calls himself a “full contact composer,” describing how he wants his hands to be able to manipulate the music he creates at every stage of the process. “[Being a ] full contact composer means you are physically connected with everything you do,” he says.

He spent decades collecting rare instruments and using them to score major films. More recently, he decided to sell off most of his gear. I was surprised for a couple of reasons:

1. His career is thriving, and he has often shown how much he uses these instruments.
2. This gear is rare and valuable, and would be difficult (if not impossible) to collect together again.
3. These musical instruments provide an amazing set for his YouTube channel and social media posts, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers.

But when he explained why he was selling most of it, the reason was simple:

“Something happened roughly a year ago, where I felt a really strong creative burden having so much gear. When I would walk into my studio, I would sometimes feel bad that I was not using [all of these instruments.] I started to feel bad that I owned so much gear, but I was actually not accessing it enough. I’ve decided to relieve myself of that burden.”

He went on to describe another reason: the burden of maintenance. He kept all of his gear in immaculate condition. He has an engineer on staff to ensure each piece stayed in top notch condition. He said: “It was a really really big responsibility, and that responsibility started to press on my creativity.”

For writers and creators, we can experience similar feelings, but in different ways. We may feel pressure from one aspect or another in how we write, publish, and share our work. It could be an endless to-do list for how you publish; constant revisions trying to please one editor or another; trying to keep up with publishing industry news; or finding the most viable way to share your work with readers.

I have been trying to navigate this for myself by taking small actions to have less. Less things to focus on. Less on my computer. Less in my studio. Less vying for my attention. That includes having fewer goals. In that process is the difficult action of letting go. But, by focusing on less, I am welcoming in more of what matters to me: more writing, more moments with readers, and more time with friends and family.

It begs the question: what can you do less of that opens up space for more of what matters to you?

That will potentially give you more energy, time, and space for your writing, creative work, and reaching your ideal readers?

Focus on Your Craft

I was thinking back on this interview that Ira Glass had in 2014 with journalist Katie Van Syckle, reporting for New York Magazine. Ira is the creator and host of This American Life on NPR. Katie asked him if he’d ever been fired, then mentions that the executive editor at The New York Times was recently fired. Ira’s response:

“I have no idea what you’re talking about… I live in my own little world and we’re putting together a show that we’re putting up at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; I was rewriting the thing here at the Peabody’s that I’m doing today and we are doing a radio show, so it has been pretty busy… Honestly, like, I’m a superfan of The New York Times, but I know nothing about how they put it together and I really don’t care.”

This was surprising in many ways, because Ira worked in the media, lived in New York, and as he mentions, is a superfan of that particular paper. Is it good or bad that he “doesn’t care?” I don’t know. But this always stuck with me, that so often we feel obligated to be aware of things, to keep up with things, to have opinions about things, to show up places, to be on top of everything.

Yet here was an example of someone instead focusing on the craft that mattered deeply to him, and being honest about not knowing about a piece of news, and not even caring. Is he being callous? Is he being dismissive? Regardless, he was focusing on creating, and wasn’t going to hide that or apologize for that. He seemed to let go of that expectation we all often feel to know everything about what is going on, and when we don’t, to feel bad about it.

For a writer, this translates into permission to focus on your craft and the experiences you want to create. I also consider how you share to be a craft as well, understanding the nuances of your ideal readers and how to reach them.

What expectations can you let go of, providing more focus and attention on what you want to create and share?

Be An Outsider Artist*

“Outsider artists have no formal training—meaning they did not attend art school or have academic art instruction… Their work is created outside of mainstream fine art. Outsider artists simply create for themselves, in order to make sense of their experiences, interests and the world around them. Outsider artists engage with their surroundings on their own terms and do not follow the rules of the art world. Usually, they do not worry about what other people are going to think of their work.”

Definitions of outsider art differ and have been debated for decades. Here, I am using the concept broadly to mean you can create that which speaks only to you. That is why I put an asterisk next to the term, to pay respect to outsider artists (past and present) who may be aligning to a different definition of the term.

The idea of being an outsider artist is to release expectations and narratives that hold you back. To remember that:

• You can create without expectation.
• You can create without aligning to conventions.
• You can create without credentials.
• You can create without considering your audience.
• You don’ have to be defined by a title or genre.
• You can ignore trends.
• You can publish if you want, when you want, where you want, and how you want. Or, not at all.
• You can celebrate creating and sharing things that are uniquely you.
• You can do all of this without seeking permission from others.

When you create what is unique to you, that makes the world a better place.

The creative burden is that which keeps you from creating and sharing, and from feeling good about it. What is one simple thing that you can give yourself permission to release, lightening your creative burden, and opening up more possibility?

One final question: what are three words that describe the intentions for how you feel about writing and sharing next year? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Today I want to share the specific process I’m using for a creative reset: creating more of what matters to me, and taking clear actions to reach my ideal readers in 2024. This is a process I go through every year, and I will present it in a step-by-step manner if you want to consider it for your own creative reset. These are the goals:

• Create more, but only what matters.
• Better understand my ideal readers and what engages them.
• Fill my days with meaningful moments with readers and those who inspire me.
• Find sustainability and growth for what I create and how I reach readers.
• Experience a sense of fulfillment in the process.
• Quiet the anxiety, overwhelm, and comparisonitis, that leads to distraction.

So much of this is about getting clarity on what is essential to focus on — creating good routines and measuring “success” as experiences with real people, not hollow metrics like followers. As an introvert, that isn’t always as easy as it sounds!

Regardless of where you are, what your resources are, or how much time you have, you have everything you need for a creative reset. You can think about aspects of the reset while waiting in line to pick up kids, commuting to work, while in the waiting room at a medical facility, or while doing laundry. I choose those examples because they tend to be the things that make up our days — the things in-between — that too often keep us from focusing on our creative goals. Instead, I want to make those things a part of this work.

I believe in what I call Human-Centered Marketing — to put people and human connection at the center of how we share what we create. This process is not about complicated spreadsheets or weirdo systems. This is about cutting away all but what matters most.

Let’s dig in…

Start with a Clean Slate

To get clear about what you want to create and how to find your readers, don’t start with a long list of responsibilities, schedules, and goals, asking, “How can I make this work better, and maybe even add more?” Instead, start with a clean slate, as if this is the first time you are considering what you want to create, what matters to you, how you want to fill your days, and where you hope it leads.

20 years ago, I watched this TV show on TLC called Clean Sweep. I loved this show. Basically, this team of organizers and designers would help someone get control of their house, which was overflowing with stuff and preventing them from living the life they wanted while at home. They would pick one or two rooms for a makeover, undoing years of hoarding, and in the process, getting clarity on what these people wanted to experience in these spaces.

This show was very emotional. Invariably these rooms were cluttered with sentimental objects that people felt they couldn’t get rid of. Until they could. For example, in one episode, organizer Peter Walsh would ask the homeowner about a huge dusty box of dishes that took up half a closet, moving with them from one house to another. The person would tell the story of how their grandmother slowly collected these dishes decades ago, and this is the only physical object they still have to remember their grandmother by. Then, Peter would say something like, “You love your grandmother. Is keeping these dusty dishes in a beat-up old box in the back of your closet the best way to honor her?” Tears would flow…

The design team then took one place setting of the dishes and mounted it within a shadowbox along with a photo of the grandmother. They hung it on a wall in a prominent place, so that every time the homeowner entered the room, they would be reminded of their grandmother. Then the rest of the dishes were donated so someone else could find use for them, and perhaps make their own memories with them.

The team started with a blank slate for each room, moving every single object onto the front lawn. Then they would walk the homeowner into the empty space and ask them to share their dream for how they want to use this space to actually live, instead of merely as a storage space.

For your creative reset, start fresh without assumptions or expectations. Then, give yourself a few bits of structure to help ensure this work moves ahead without overwhelming you. For me, that usually involves a clear start date, some calendar reminders to ensure I attend to this work, a bit of accountability, and a firm deadline. Your creative reset can take an entire three-month quarter, a week, or an afternoon. It’s up to you.

Get Clarity

I embrace a creative reset so I can start each year feeling refreshed and clear. But you can do this work at any time. Personally, I want to feel that I have more margin in my days — which can feel like a challenge as my kids get older and feel the weight of more responsibility.

So let’s start with clarity! I developed my Clarity Card system many years ago, and I make it freely available here. It’s a 5-part system that just uses index cards. But it can change your life. It changed mine. I’ve taken hundreds of people through this process. This is what Clarity Cards look like:

Not long ago, I found my original Clarity Cards from around 2009. They included a mix of intentions, but one card jumped out at me:

At the time, my wife and I did not yet have kids. I was working at a large publishing company, commuting about an hour and a half each way to work. With these index cards I reassessed the distance between my daily reality and the life I hoped to lead.

The “stay at home dad” thing was my way of saying that I wanted to be present in the lives of my family once we had kids. To not always be on a train, or in an office 30 miles away from my wife and kids.

The second part of that card included a frantic question: “Earn money from home. How?!”

Since that time, I left my corporate job in publishing and have run my own business for 13+ years. I work a few blocks away from where I live, or from my home office, and see my family regularly throughout the day.

It’s astounding to look at this index card and consider the moment I wrote it, and then look at my life today which has answered that question, and lived up to the intention of that goal. I’m thankful for this clarity every moment of every day because it gave me direction.

Here is a case study of how I helped one writer work through her Clarity Cards a few years ago. The nice thing is that you can revisit the process. My Clarity Cards change over time, and it’s refreshing to approach the process anew each year.

Create Very Specific Habits

1. Mindset reminders.
2. Writing.
3. Outreach.
4. Platform.
5. Business sustainability and growth.

The key here is to break down big goals into the smallest ingredient. Let’s say you want to finish writing a book in the next year. The smallest ingredient is making time for writing and editing.

If you want to grow your platform as a writer, the smallest ingredient is an interaction with an ideal reader, or sending an email to a writer who inspires you, or some other action that potentially connects you with another human being.

I’m creating a little chart for myself, kind of like a daily checklist. I plan to design it in a way that inspires me, likely in 1970s colors of orange, avocado green, and wood paneling texture. (Ugly 1970s living rooms are my happy place.)

Under each category are super simple habits. More on that in a moment. Then, I will bake all of this into my daily work calendar, with reminders to attend to these habits each day.

I used to run a Mastermind group where I took people through this creative reset process on a quarterly basis. I would provide a lot of material and structures, including for everyone to post a simple achievable intention for the each week, then to report back on it at the end of the week. Even if they didn’t work on the intention at all, I encouraged them to report back on lessons they learned in the process. This would help them do it differently in the following week, slowly developing habits that lead to creating more and reaching their ideal readers.

My goal with all of this is to set myself up for success, not failure. Which brings us to…

Set Ridiculously Low Expectations

Or if you want more reviews posted to your book on Amazon, don’t set a goal of “300 new book reviews next year!” Instead consider: “What is one action I can take today to encourage the chance of one new book review this month?” In asking this question, you will be considering practical actions you can reasonably take in your otherwise busy life, instead of some GREAT BIG HUGE STRATEGY that you will never have the time to implement.

Smaller expectations encourage smaller but more frequent actions. So often, we make this work too complicated, with too high of expectations, and the result is we simply don’t show up for it.

Gain More Resources

Now, creating more resources is actually very difficult. So the trick here is to instead conserve and repurpose the finite resources you already have. Ditch the unwanted stuff that takes up space in your life, thereby opening up new reserves of energy, time, attention, and space you never knew you could have.

This is what gives you the fuel that your creative reset will run on after the honeymoon period wears off. This is how you will keep creating, reaching your ideal readers, and feel good about the process, even well into the new year.

How do you do that? Some ideas:

• Recognize your own distracting urges, then put limits that make it easier to manage them. If you are distracted by ‘all the things’ online, then use the tools that social media channels give you to control over that distraction. You can unfollow people, unsubscribe from them, even using the ‘mute’ feature. This is not to cut people out, but to help ensure you create what you dream of and connect with readers in meaningful ways. I talk to so many creators who follow those who inspire them online, but who also unintentionally trigger envy. So someone may scroll through a social media feed of inspiring people, but end up feeling bad about themselves. It is okay to take a lot more control over your online feeds.
• Show up to places and experiences that fuel you, instead of depleting you. You aren’t a bad person if you decide to no longer show up somewhere online or off that steals your energy and sense of possibility. When appropriate, clearly communicate your boundaries.
• Say no to obligations and opportunities that don’t align with your Clarity Cards. I once said no to an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii for this very reason. This will feel impossibly difficult at first, but it gets easier. Just always be kind and respectful to others in this process. You can change the expectations that others have of you through clear communication. And sometimes this is more of an internal process, changing the perception we have in our own minds of what we think others expect from us. Again, this is where Clarity Cards can lead to some big mindset shifts.
• Clean, organize, and discard of physical and digital stuff. I have been going through a big cleanup process of my computer files, as well as my studio and home office. Why? I want more space, of course, but I also want a visual sense of more openness. The less stuff I see or need to sort through, the more easily I can access key documents I need that align to the creative habits I am establishing. It may sound small, but if I can get to a file I need with one click instead of three, that helps make it feel more accessible. If my computer desktop has zero files on it, as opposed to 42, the more I feel a sense that there may be enough margin in the day to actually write more and connect with readers.
• Give yourself permission. So many people seek permission, approval, or validation from others too early in the process of a creative reset. They want those around them to see what they are doing, and recognize and honor it. And while that would be nice, it is not a requirement. Give yourself permission to embark on your creative reset. As I mentioned earlier, when you need to communicate this to others, be clear and kind. This too is another type of resource, one where you feel it is okay to do this work each day (or week.) When you worry less about what others think of it, that opens up new resources within you.

I’d love to know: what habits would you love to establish as part of your own creative reset? Tell me in the comments.

Oh, and this week’s video for paid subscribers focused on How Writers and Creators Can Sell More Online. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can access this video here, receiving one exclusive video from me every week!

Thank you for being here with me.

-Dan

It is so tempting for each of us to just focus on the items that are still undone on our to-do lists. To constantly be focused on tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. But when we pause, even for a moment, to recognize what we have created and learned, I feel that is where transformation happens. When we are reminded what we did, not just what we hope to do. Where we recognize our capabilities, not just our hang-ups. Where we can celebrate the risks taken along the way that remind us: you are alive and vital, you have something to say, and your work matters.

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