It’s a beautiful day after a very soggy day around Mississippi. The Avengers: Endgame is the big thing this weekend. I will be (as mentioned in another post) working on a term paper most of the weekend — so the Avengers is a carrot for me to get my work done. On Sunday, I am the speaker at an Eagle Scout ceremony and on Saturday, I’m going to break away from the computer to see my son run in the North State track meet.
Otherwise my butt will be in a seat and I will be typing.
Right now, I’m still digging up research for my paper and am preparing notes for a board meeting I have in a week. I will probably do a cartoon later this afternoon, but today is more screen time than creative time. My paper is on the current state of the newspaper industry, some possible ways to help it survive and ways to monetize the content digitally. Obviously, that’s a big part of my new job but it is also something I need to think about on a personal level too. For many years, I sat with my nose pointed at a drawing board and the world changed around me. Add to that some personal stuff and I have lagged behind where I need to be as an artist and an entrepreneur. There also is a personal responsibility component to all of this, too. Back in the day, I just worried about a cartoon a day. Now I have several universes orbiting the center of my personal brand. Long story short, I need to be better organized.
Oh yeah, and I need to be a decent father to three of the most amazing boys on the planet.
It’s all about focus, though: Like weeding out parts of my life that don’t matter and people who don’t support my mission. I can’t go down rabbit holes, etc. because I just don’t have the time. I can’t have people in my inner circle who don’t believe.
I vow to start each day with gratefulness for another opportunity, to use my talent in ways that bring joy and thought to the daily conversation and to love others as I would myself (unless you’re in a political cartoon and then I will turn on the snark). My platforms? Radio, TV, cartoons, children’ books, social media and speaking.
That’s where I’m headed.
A term paper is a pretty big undertaking but has been a great activity for me. I am completely stressed out by it but am doing this as I would if I had to eat an elephant — one bite at a time. But the beauty of it is that it has forced me to think about some things I haven’t.
To quote Shakespeare, “I have to get my sh*t together.”
The bard was good with words like that.