Five Years
I heard something on a podcast last week that keeps rattling around in my brain when it comes to making business decisions about where to spend my time: is this something I want to still be doing in five years?
The example they were discussing was TikTok. The host, who happens to enjoy TikTok, was like, “Do I want to be spending twenty hours a week on TikTok in five years? No.”
It only took me a month of focusing on TikTok this summer to realize that that is not my jam. And this whole marketing pivot I’m currently making to a more content-centred approach from my own website is a result of thinking about what is.
Since I heard that podcast, I keep thinking about that question when it comes to all sorts of things:
Do I want to be working forty-five to fifty hours a week in five years?
Is this marketing method (whatever it is) something I still want to be doing in five years?
Is this income stream (whatever it is) something I still want to be pursuing in five years?
It’s a very helpful rubric. Because there are some things where the answer is a definite Heck, no! And some where it’s like, Yes, I love this and will do it forever even if it never makes me a dime.
But then there’s stuff that’s like, Well, I guess I’d be okay with it if I need to do it to make money, but it’s not like it lights me on fire.
So much of the career advice you hear nowadays is along the lines of “If it’s not a heck, yes, then why are you doing it?”
This is in stark contrast to the prevailing attitudes fifty or sixty years ago, where it was like, “It doesn’t matter if it’s killing your soul, you have responsibilities, so this is the job you need to do.”
I’ve done a few soul-killing jobs. And I recognize how privileged I am to be able to say, “I don’t want to do that anymore.”
That doesn’t mean everything required to do what I love is going to light me on fire… and I’m perfectly okay with that. There can be joy in tedious tasks. Still, if it’s actually feeling a little soul-killing, it’s something I feel I need to examine.
Which is where the five-year rubric comes in.
Do I want to be working forty-five hours a week in five years?
I used to be like, “Sure, I love work, and besides, what else would I do?” Now, I’m less on board with this. The idea of a thirty- or even twenty-hour work week is sounding more appealing all the time.
Because I do love working on my business, but I also love doing hobbies and other things that aren’t necessarily related to my business. And the pace I’ve been keeping up for the last seven years (since I started pursuing a writing career in earnest) hasn’t allowed time for those activities. In fact, it has slowly pushed them out of my life. We got rid of our chicken flock. My garden looks like a nature preserve. And there are unfinished projects in my house that only need a little time and attention to be completed… yet there they sit, undone.
I bombed out on my slow productivity mission last week, and this morning, I’m still tired because of it. I’ve been fantasizing about taking the entire month of December off. It’s a warning sign to me that I’m overdoing it again. (I have a client project booked, which is good, but that also means this will remain a fantasy. However, I’m taking two weeks off, so I will be getting a break in there, just not a full month.)
Do you ever wish you could just take a break from your personal issues for a while? For me, I’d love to be able to set aside my workaholic tendencies for long enough to take a proper break and heal from burnout without feeling guilty for all the work I’m not doing.
But my unhealthy attitude didn’t develop overnight, and resetting it is going to take time, too.
I may not be able to see the future, but I can at least choose which path I’ll take to get there. Image by Martino Pietropoli, courtesy of Unsplash.
I’m working on it. I’m getting there. Even when it doesn’t feel like it.
Because in five years’ time, I would love to be in a healthier, more energetic and content place. And that’s the rubric by which I’m measuring the activities I’m keeping.
Onward. Slowly. So I can smell a few more roses along the way.
Because my life is my adventure. And if I’m not enjoying the journey, I might be doing something wrong.
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