It’s very possible you’ve heard of the bullet journal system. You may have even seen some examples of pages or spreads from bullet journals somewhere online. The bullet journal system (created by Ryder Carroll) is a popular analog tracking system that lives inside of a notebook you use several times a day.

I’ve been bullet journalling since January 2017 (two years at the time of writing). I wanted a better system to keep track of things, such as my freelancing, chores, exercise, self-care, and goal setting. I had all of this information in various places both on paper and on the computer, but never in a centralized place.

The problem was, none of this was working well for me or was even sustainable for me. I went a couple of years without really maintaining any planner at all. I would write my daily to-do lists on random sheets of paper or in digital to-do list apps. Nothing would work or be functional enough for me to use on the daily basis.

I’m a strong believer and supporter of freelancing. But I’ve also reached that point in my life where freelancing has gotten me this far, but won’t get me much further.

Freelancing has done amazing things for my career, but I think every freelancer eventually starts to grow out of freelancing. That’s about where I feel like I am.

Let me explain.

For a long time, I felt like I was the only one that dealt with the lack of mental clarity, but I’ve learned I’m not the only one. So I’m sure there are others like me who’ve felt the burden of undone tasks, distracting things, important decisions, catastrophic events, or any other thing that keeps us from thinking clearly and staying focused and on task.

This is all mental clutter, the stuff keeps us from getting things done, from staying focused, from moving forward.

I read quite a lot of articles focused toward entrepreneurs and small business owners. I also follow quite a few of them on social media. One clear thing stands out in pretty much all of the things I read – they focus so much on the goals, or an end game, or a milestone, and less about the journey you’re on to get there.

Having goals to work toward is great: they keep you motivated and they help you grow. But in an endless pursuit to reach them – we start to lose sight of what we really should focus on day in and day out.

I have a love/hate relationship with the idea that in order to be successful, you just need to show up everyday. While yes, if you want to succeed, you have to be present, but that’s not what makes you successful.

What happens to be left out of that idea is the actual work. That’s why the idea has turned into the mantra “show up and do the work.” But even that mantra isn’t enough to be successful.

There’s two things missing: consistency and focus. In my mind, there’s for things that lead to success: show up, be consistent, be focused, do the work. Show up every day focused and do the work.

Throughout most of the end of 2016 (and when I mean most, I basically mean the last nine months of 2016), it was a very chaotic time for me. My business, January Creative, was growing more rapidly and I was taking on lots of new projects and clients. At the same time, I started ramping up a side project/hobby of mine that I had been working on for around a year, and was ready to take a new leap with the hobby.

With so much going on, I was struggling to keep up: staying up late every night to get things done, neglecting important things such as taking care of myself, pushing off things such as marketing my business, regular house cleaning, and personal finance management (the bills still got paid, but the record keeping was left to a less busy time). I could go on and on (and likely will in future posts), but for now let’s just say: things got crazy.

Ever feel like those around you are achieving more, getting more things done, being more productive, and/or launching more things than you are? Find yourself comparing your productivity to someone else’s?

As someone who has spent way too much time comparing her level of productivity to others, I feel we get this feeling of not doing enough, not achieving enough, or otherwise not making as much momentum as others.