A Few Thoughts on Snow, Focus & Motivation

I’m drinking a cup of coffee and typing at my computer.

This is what I do eight hours a day, five days a week (the writing part, that is; I’m usually done with the coffee by 11 a.m.).

Today is a little different because there’s a big storm system sitting over Denver. It’s dropping all kinds of snow right now.

We’re approaching a foot of accumulation, with somewhere between 18 inches and two feet projected.

Fortunately, I’m a freelance copywriter, so I get to carry on with my work and enjoy a cozy day in the office.

Better still, I’ve stayed exceptionally focused this week, so today I can take some time to read, tidy up the clutter in my office, and spend some time pursuing one of my many pet projects.

I seem to have a lot of those.

One of my friends asked me recently, “How many web sites do you own?”

“Do you mean how many domains have I registered… or how many web sites have I created and are live on the Internet? Either way, I don’t know.”

It was a pretty short conversation.

Let’s see… just looked it up because now I’m curious. 130 domain names registered. (I have set some to expire, so that number will go down this year.)

And it looks like I have 21 web sites that are actually up and running. (This doesn’t count a few I’ve pulled down because I felt they had outlived their usefulness or never achieved their purpose.)

If you accused me of not being focused enough, I couldn’t deny it.

What I’ve realized in the time I’ve been working online is that I’m not primarily motivated by money.

Sure, I like to have enough to pay my bills. (Who doesn’t?)

But beyond providing for my family and having a little extra for date nights, vacations, and field trips, I’m more interested in creating impact… changing minds… getting people to see things they haven’t seen before.

That’s what really gets me excited.

That, and snow.

I love snow days.

Talk to you next week,

-Ryan M. Healy