🙄 the crap I cleaned out in my office

while I was making room for serendipity

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, quarterly planning, or even choosing my “word” for the year. 

I gave up on resolutions about five years ago.

Around the same time, I realized “work-life balance” was marketing bullshit sold to us by savvy advertisers. (True story my friend, sorry to burst your bubble.) 

Since then, I’ve learned to manage my business as a freelance writer, so quarterly planning has become an essential skill. But even with that, I can be very realistic about January - June… beyond that, everything else feels like a guessing game. I know life’s gonna change so I’m kinda meh about the rest of the year and just fill in the blanks to have something on the page. 

Please don’t judge me for that. 😳

I wanted to keep it real with you about all the resolution and goal-setting stuff. Because I’m always the one who gets all her planning done by the end of January and I’m learning to accept this about myself. (Maybe you can relate?)

But my real strength is intention setting. I put my heart and head into setting intentions like some people do with redecorating their homes.

Intentions are about identity.

And meaningful change happens when we align our energy with our actions. I love that it’s an internal process of self-awareness mixed with dashes of behavioral changes. 

My first step is to clean out or create a physical space to make room for the new. 

It’s a signal to my subconscious that I'm serious about sticking with this. 

And this is why I thought of you. 

I’ve been thinking about my intentions, while I’ve been purging and reorganizing my home office.

So when I took a photo to share here, it occurred to me that my home office matches where I am with my intentions. 

Here they are:

📌 I’m a profitable writer who values her time and expertise because I understand how to make money for my clients and my business. 

📌 I’m a woman who says no easily without questioning or guilt.

📌 I’m a woman who listens to her body and puts her health first. 

Behold the situation in my home office:

Notice the desk looks very stylish and neat. But there are papers and boxes and some random red thing in the corner. (It’s an old filing cabinet I have to donate.) 

You can almost see underneath some of that stuff, there’s that profitable writer, the woman who puts her health first, and someone who says no to old stuff she doesn’t need to hang on to. 

There are just a few layers that still need to be purged. It’s a work in progress. But it feels like it can happen with just a little more focused time and elbow grease. 

That’s the art and science of intention setting. 

And here’s what I’d love to know from you…

How do you feel about setting intentions? (🙄 Meh or blech is totally acceptable.)

Or do you clean and purge to make room for new changes?

Which one of those is most like you?

And if you’re bold, share a photo of where you work from. I love seeing people’s desks. (Geeky writer thing.) 

Stay creative,

Jen

P.S. Get ready. January 20th is my 2nd anniversary on Substack! That’s how I’ve started my 2024 planning…

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