This past Monday I wrapped up a 30-day project implementation with Mel Robbins through the Power of You 2018 spring course. The goal was three-fold: establish a powerful morning routine that gives greater clarity, make daily progress on a project and practice small acts of everyday courage.

Each morning, I’d wake up on time, (5 am!), did not check my phone or email, completed the daily exercise, and made sure to take action even in small ways on my project which I called “Applying for 30 Jobs in 30 Days.”

Some of you may not know that I have been trying to get my own non-fiction editing business up off the ground ever since I was laid off from an adjunct teaching post instructing ESL (English as a Second Language) students last November – one that I enjoyed for the past nine years. For the past eight years, I’ve been doing academic editing with just a few side gigs in the arena of non-fiction. These days I’m a non-fiction editor and copyeditor who works with authors and writers on their marketing material, book chapters, and book proposals. I also run memoir writing courses (in real life and online) to help memoirists improve their memoir writing skills and get clear on their book.

When I found I would be unemployed, I quickly set up “shop” in late 2017 and, through my network, have managed to get enough work through referrals. However, I had no control over when the work came in, which meant at times I didn’t have enough, which was stressful.

Although as a writer, I struggle at times with being an extrovert and being the center of attention, I find it incredibly difficult to promote my business, to the point that I realize that my marketing efforts have zig-zagged, waxed and waned. And that needs to change – right now!

This is where the project implementation comes in. I wanted to build some serious momentum but I also wanted to diversify my strategy without just sending out cover letters and resumes. In the past, I had encountered so much rejection or silent responses from just sending out cover letters and resumes and taking editing tests. I wanted to validate my marketability as a content writer and marketer as well as a developmental editor. And for that, I needed to arm myself with confidence to face the ongoing rejection I’d continue to face and still continue to take action.

In the end, the combined effort of sending out cover letters, resumes and completing editing tests was enough time to reflect on how whipping up my morning routine actually did wonders for developing a mindset of courage.

Committing Yourself Makes You Accountable

For 30 days, each morning at 5:30 am, I committed myself to writing one action step I would do to move my job search forward. These action steps varied from maximizing my profile on LinkedIn to finding leads to completing editing assignments and tests. But I also included steps outside of my comfort zone such as attending a networking meeting, getting on the phone with past clients (I quickly learned that editors do not like to network!) or doing an informal interview with an ideal client.

The other commitment was firming up a time when I would actually do these steps. In the past, I never bothered to write these steps down or when I would do them. I found the “when” part to be an important step. Saying “in the afternoon” wasn’t good enough. It had to be specific enough.

I quickly discovered that this is important for setting up accountability. Writing something down means committing yourself to taking the action. And when you take the action, you build confidence.

Embracing My Evolving Big Why

Each morning I wrote my response to the project implementation pages to the question: Why Does It Matter?”

My #1 massive transformative purpose was to double what I was making as a teacher each month. I’m happy to say that I’ve now surpassed that goal for the month of May!

After about writing 15 times, “financial sustainability” and “doubling my monthly teacher income,” I wanted to know if that was the ONLY reason for completing the project.

Why does it matter to do all these editing tests and send out cover letters and meet with ideal clients? Why?

For 15 days, I wrote “financial sustainability” as my response. Clearly, I had to meet certain income goals. But over time, my BIG WHY changed. My daughter told me one day that when she grew up, she wanted to be a teacher. As cute and endearing as the moment was, this immediately triggered a flashback of a younger version of me, the backstory behind my award-winning memoir Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces.

Right then and there, I realized that I did NOT want to go back to Israel to be an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. I did NOT want to step into a classroom.

After doing several Facebook videos in the Power Of You community group, I realized that I did NOT want to step into a classroom ever again. I wanted to be part of a new tribe and culture of writers and editors who translate ideas that matter into books, marketing messages, and online content. I wanted to be an influencer of words.

Doing Daily Courage Challenges

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
― Lao Tzu

Each day for 30 days, I committed to doing a courage challenge. One of the challenges was writing down 10 things that I love about myself. I found this terribly hard to do at first.
I’m a workhorse. I do not like to stop to give myself hug. But on tough days, that’s what I found myself doing.

Here are a few others:

1.I took a cold shower. (yuck, that was hard!)

2. I spent a few hours with my phone completely off and in another room.

3.I also took 2 hours during the day to be truly present. I ended up taking a nice long walk in the woods. And there I was able to connect with the silence from within.

4. I also wrote a letter to my son who had an impact on me.
In the end, this implementation project was not just about having the courage to apply for jobs. It was about honoring and respecting myself, my passions and income goals and recognizing my need for abundance.

Although these courage challenges were not directly connected to my action steps, they gave me confidence to continue pushing through to the finish line.

Read Jia Jiang’s Rejection Proof

Seriously! This book changed the way I saw how to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ Instead of taking rejection personally, I got smart and armed myself with understanding how to see rejection as a ‘friend.’ I am dogearing the heck out of this book. I think I will probably need to invest in having my own copy. It’s just that good!

The Outcomes for Writing without Fear

This project taught me what it meant to live without fear not just as a job seeker but as a writer who is constantly dealing with fear. Will my new book sell? Will I build a strong platform in time? Will I have the stamina and endurance to keep going?

Even if there wasn’t a fear stated question, I could feel the fear build up in my body and mind.

The key I found is to be constantly taking action. Action dissipates the action. Daily action is what moves the black cloud that’s looming over your head somewhere else. Action supported by a supportive network is what gives you the feeling that you’re not alone. this is what I found in the Power of You community. Every time I shared a challenge or a success in the Facebocalledup, nobody called me out or judged me.

Over to You

How Do YOU honor and respect yourself? What action steps do you need to take to get out of the weeds so you can move your life forward with clarity (the act of tuning in) and courage (taking action?)

Hire Me to Edit or Ghostwrite Your Book Proposal

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Let’s cut through some of those weeds and get your book proposal publishing ready!

I can edit or ghostwrite your book proposal and get it into tip-top shape for an acquisition editor, a publisher or an agent.

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