We all take a moment to stand back and take stock of whatever it is we do to assess the difference we make in the lives of others by doing it. The other day I got an anxious email from a faithful reader “being selfish” and demanding that I don’t stop writing this blog. She was nervous because in my post Success..or Not?…Or Maybe I had mentioned that I no longer obsess over posting everyday and if a day or two goes by without writing it is because I have learned that there is more to writing than just putting the words on paper. I explained that ideas need to be nourished and crafted with some thinking time in between typing time. Also not obsessing over things is part of my total project of “letting go”.
After reassuring her that I had no intention of stopping because I have way too much left to say, I settled into the daily task of attending to emails. From time to time I subscribe to various blogs that I feel will move me forward spiritually and provide the fodder for thoughts and ideas I can bring to you. There was one blog I subscribed to, that today, I actually went to the “unsubscribe” link and let it go. As I did that, I wondered just what made me not want to read that particular blog anymore. What I found was interesting and helped me answer the question of my own effectiveness.
That blog always had interesting titles. (I’m a lover of titles.) I would eagerly click on the post, settle back with my tea, and get set to be enlightened, only to find the author barely wrote four sentences about the topic and was advertising signing up for a webinar to hear the rest. Even though the webinars are free, it’s not how I expected to get the information I was seeking. It’s too much trouble for me to schedule and sign in to listen. Plus I’m not a good listener. I’m a visual learner and I was prepared to sit and absorb this authors take on stress and wellness at my leisure. When I saw it was an advertisement for yet another webinar, (at least three out every four posts have been) I just hit the unsubscribe button.
That act caused me to question my own effectiveness by examining what it was that has kept me subscribed to lots of other blogs for over two years now. Basically, I trusted the authors to keep their promise. Their titles pulled me in and I always left with what I came for – short coffee or tea break where I had a chance to be given some new thought or idea that would in some way shape my thinking or reframe a struggle and make my life just a bit better – delivered in a clear, compact type of post I had come to expect from them.
Then came the question: Do I do that for my readers? I hope so. I’m encouraged by the email from that one reader begging me not to stop writing. I won’t. If anything she inspired me to continue to strive to deliver relevant, helpful content in a manner you, my reader, have come to expect.
It’s good to stop in the midst of our hustle and bustle to get things done and just be sure we’re hitting our mark of why we do them. We can be efficient without being effective and by not stopping to “take stock” effectiveness can elude us.
And so, as another day goes by, a job done is very different from a job well-done, and…I have written.
You are very relevant to everything in my life…. I look for you, first and foremost… and then, your blog, just about every day. I can usually relate your insights to happenings in my own life. Delighted to read of your plans to continue writing to me. xoxo