I’ve been chipping away at this blog for a month now, and it’s been great to just begin. writing daily, following my intuition that publishing is a good idea, then figuring out the finer details of how that looks practically as I’ve gone.
In most things, we start out with an idea, but once we begin and get some fresh data, we can tweak the course we’re headed and make new decisions.
I’m really enjoying the process of writing – getting thoughts out of my head onto paper.
As a maths teacher by trade, written words aren’t my go to language, and so the decision to write every day has been a great way to practise a craft which I’ll depend upon much much more in this new season of work I’m in.
So I believe putting pen to paper each day is a good practice for me.
But what else could I be writing about, and, with a scarcity of time, what should the focus be?
Widening the frame even more in regards to time scarcity, what could I be doing with my time instead of writing?
In short…
Who am I writing for?
And what change is it supposed to be making?
These two questions are a central part of making change happen, and are lasting takeaways of the altMBA I did last year.
When I kicked this blog off, I shared my answers to these questions around ‘who’ and ‘what’ it was for with some altMBA alumni I’ve become great friends with:
Who’s it for? Anyone like me on a journey towards a vision of the future you’re in love with who is leading a small passionate team along the way. You may be aware of your true-north, but you’re totally making it up as you go. Imposters welcome!
What’s it for? Personally – it’s a way for me to reflect publicly on what i’m noticing as I go about creating change in my new season working part-time at Forever Projects. Collectively – I hope some of my reflections and insights add fuel to the journey for the ‘who’ above, and that as I connect with others who resonate, i’ll gain some of their reflections, comments and insights as fuel for myself.
Circling back here has been really helpful, and I believe I can achieve the above with this blog by just writing once each week.
But what about all of those benefits i’d mentioned of writing daily?
From a recent post…
I’m going to pivot this blog for the next couple of weeks, and point it toward telling some of the stories that I have the privilege of playing a part in transmitting. We believe that by shining a light on those stories, we create an invitational culture for us all to play ever greater roles in our collective journey.
We’re actually about to launch our own Forever Projects blog (think online newspaper nestled into our existing website). It’ll be a place for all of our stories to live, both of donors stepping up with bravery and generosity, and of the impact of those funds in Tanzania. From NGO partners sharing their experiences of the complexities and challenges of the work in the ground, to stories written from the perspective of our donor community.
It’ll provide an opportunity for people who visit the site a chance to get a feel for our FP culture of ‘what’s in your hands’. We want to continue to create a really invitational feel. In our experience, it’s that culture that inspires people to take action as a character in our story.
So in the coming months, as we populate our FP blog with the abundance of stories we already have to tell, I’ll dedicate the rest of my writing time to that.
I’m feeling quite good about pivoting this in this way! Clarity often comes when we return to our why, who and what.
Writing daily?
Tick.
Some clarity around the who and what?
Tick.
See you in a week!
Potentially Kinetic 