Once I put my credit card number into the checkout page, it was official. I was paying for this blog, and so I needed to make it count.
Mind you, I’d done this before… I just quit. The year before, I started a blog that I didn’t keep up with because I didn’t have a plan, and so my passion for writing fell by the wayside.
This time around, my second time starting a blog, I wanted to make sure I actually wrote on the blog. I’d just paid for yet another beautiful website, and I wanted to be consistent.
Enter excuse number one: how am I going to blog when I work so much? And excuse number two: this is just a passion project. I shouldn’t be spending time on it.
Let me underline something here: these were both excuses. Making time for something you’re passionate about is a meaningful use of your time. You can almost always make this special time for self-care.
Easier said than done, right?
Making time for your passion is a big task, but this post will walk you through the steps to do just that. Here’s a simple 4-step process to declutter your schedule and focus on your passion. I call it the 4 C’s.
You can download a much shorter version of this exercise here.
Here are the 4 C’s:
1. Clarify
What are you craving more of?
Let’s start off simply, by getting clear on what exactly it is that you’re craving. This is important not only because it’s something that we’re sometimes shy to admit, but also because it’ll help you to identify what’s a good versus a not-so-good use of your time.
What do I mean by this? Sometimes, we get caught up in what we think we’re supposed to do, instead of what we want to do. If we’re not careful, we can dilute our passion with what other people expect of us. Instead of painting, for example, you might sign up for a class in art history because that seems like a more acceptable way to be involved in the arts.
I was craving more time to write outside of work. But I had to be clear with myself: I wasn’t craving more time on social media. I wanted a daily writing practice, one where I could take a break from my regular work to create.
The other time I started a blog, I got distracted. I ended up spending more time on Instagram than on writing because I’d read that that’s what bloggers needed to do. Grow that following.
That defeated the whole purpose of me decluttering my schedule to make time for writing. I was doing what I thought I should do instead of what I knew I needed for myself, which was simply to write.
Step 1: Clarify. Get clear and specific on what you’re creating more time for, without other people’s suggestions and expectations.
2. Contextualize
Now you’ve got to cut yourself some slack. It is so incredibly harsh of us to be hard on ourselves about not making time for something when our plates are already full. It’s also unfair to demand personal excellence when you’re in a season of healing. We have to be fair to ourselves in each of our seasons of growth.
This became very clear to me when I published my first blog post on my new site. First of all, it took hours, and second of all, my licensing exams were coming up in just four months. There was no way I could create weekly content, which seemed to be everyone’s advice. Post several times a week or your readers will lose interest! (Again, review step one: get clear without other people’s expectations).
I didn’t post that way. Instead, I put my passion for blogging into the broader scope of what was going on in my life at that time. I gave myself some slack and decided that posting every other week was what I could commit to, and that was that. No guilt.
What are your priorities and responsibilities right now? What season of life are you moving through right now? Is it a hustle season, a healing season, a growing season? Are you studying for exams? Starting a new job? Moving to a new city for a new opportunity?
All of these are important questions to ask yourself and to be honest about, because they’ll affect how (and if) you can make time for your passion right now. You have to be realistic with yourself and plan around what’s feasible for you in this time.
Step 2: Contextualize. Evaluate all of your commitments and decide what and how much you can commit to right now.
3. Cut it
Remember how I stopped posting on my previous blog? You know what I didn’t stop doing? Scrolling on Instagram. That’s right. I was too busy to blog, but not quite so busy that I couldn’t check out my favourite travelgrams in the meantime.
Y’all. We have to be honest with ourselves. What are the everyday activities that waste our time? What things could you replace with more passionate work? If you’re on social media or watching your favourite show, then you’re essentially saying you’re free for those things. And that’s absolutely fine, as long as you’re also happy with the amount of time that you’re spending on your passion.
I wasn’t. I struggled to find time for work, studying and writing… but yet I still found myself wasting time on screens.
Now, whenever I’m on my phone, I ask myself, “am I available for this right now?” Am I available for Instagram? Or Pinterest? Or am I available to work on my blog? Then I answer the question and act accordingly.
Step 3: Cut it. Look at each of your activities and decide which ones you can scale back on or eliminate in order to make time for your passion. (Read: 4 Reasons to Make Time for Your Passion Now).
4. Create
At this point, you’ve taken all the right steps in terms of creating space for your passion. Doesn’t that feel amazing? I’ll tell you, once I scaled back on my use of social media, I felt a lot more calm and collected. But, I also felt overwhelmed because I’d read so much about… so much. For my blog, I’d need a website and an email list and a niche and, and, and… enter self-doubt.
Overwhelm finds people who aren’t doing a dang thing (Read: How to Deal When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed). If you’re stuck thinking about your passion instead of being about your passion, that’s when you’ll get cold feet. But if you’ve done the hard work of acknowledging and making space for your passion, the next step is to get started.
You do not need to read any more blog posts, watch any more videos, or interview any more experts in the field. You need to experience it for yourself.
Identify the smallest possible next step, and then take it. You’ve already decided what you’re aiming for, and I guarantee you it’s amazing, so stop focusing on the enormity of it, and start focusing on what you can do right now, where you stand.
For me, that meant publishing a blog post. And then writing another one… and publishing that one too. I mean, it sounds obvious, but the first step to starting my blog was writing my blog posts.
It’s only by writing consistently that I was able to figure out a routine that worked well with my schedule. Most weekdays, I spent an hour on it either before or after work until, eventually, I had an archive of meaningful posts that encouraged people to prioritize their self-care. And more importantly, I had reincorporated writing into my life.
Step 4: Create. You’ve got to take that first tiny step towards working on your passion. And then take the next step. This consistency in your actions is going to give you the momentum you need to make your passion a permanent fixture in your day-to-day life.
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Summary
So there you have it. I’m guessing you have more than one thing you’re interested in doing, and that you also support yourself. As difficult as it might seem, you can make time for your passion either now or in the very near future. Use the 4 C’s to get there:
- Clarify
- Contextualize
- Cut it, and
- Create
Again, if you’d like some more help cutting through the noise to make space for what’s important to you, then you can download the focus planner here. It’s a fillable PDF that you can use as a clear and constant reminder of what is worth your time so you don’t get caught up in the noise.
