What is an idea log?

An idea log is a way of cataloging your ideas for articles, posts, fiction, poems, essays and stories. Your idea log can be as simple or as fancy as you wish. Some people create file folders for their ideas. They fill them with notes, clippings, pictures and whatever else will assist them. When they pull out the folder, they have all they need to start work. This can be a great system, but it is a lot of work, especially if you never pursue that idea later.

Many people take advantage of their computers. They write quick notes, or even put them in the form of a query to an editor, and keep them in individual documents or add them to a database. This is an excellent system and one that can also get you going quickly once you decide to write because part of the document is already written. You just have to expand on it.

The third way that I propose is simpler and not as thorough. I use it myself, however, because of its ease and portability. I keep a stack of 3×5 index cards in which I jot down my ideas. I put a title and description at the top then jot down the note below. I rarely fill up more than one side of one card. It isn’t as thorough as a file or as ready to roll as a computer note, but it keeps me from prattling on about what is just a single idea that I may or may not follow. Plus, when I have a stack of these cards, I can pull them out and thumb through them quickly, more quickly than going through a file folder or a computer database. I can also take these cards with me anywhere and jot down the ideas as they come. I am a big fan of computers, but for this task I really do prefer the simplicity of a 3×5 index card.

What do you like? What do you hate?

A great place to start looking for ideas is to look at your likes and dislikes. What makes you happy and what makes you sad or angry. These are the things in your life that will provoke your most passionate writing. This can range from politics, entertainment, to a lump in your carpet that you’d like to get rid of. It all depends on what interests you enough to upset or please you.

Who do you know?

The people in your life can be one of your greatest sources of ideas. They have jobs, hobbies, interests and problems that make them experts hundreds of things. Your architect friend can now be interviewed about what makes for a good or bad home design. Your divorced friend with three kids probably has much to say about child support issues. With a little fictionalization, the annoying woman at work might make for a great short story. Look at the people around you. Evaluate them as article sources, interview topics and as story ideas.

Who would you like to know?

People often portray writing as a solitary task, but one of the great benefits of being a writer is that you can use it to meet people. Think about the respected or famous people you would like to talk to: writers you respect, experts in fields you are interested in, actors and politicians. Some of them will be difficult to meet, but many are easier than you think. While the ten most famous writers in the world may be hard to contact, most writers do not spend the majority of their time fending off interview requests. The same is true of experts in most areas. Politicians and actors are probably the hardest to get an interview with, but even then you might be surprised. Just remember that the top few in those fields are nearly impossible to interview without some clout behind you, but there are plenty of others in the field who would be happy to answer your questions.

Where have you been?

Travel is a great way to generate ideas. Look at the places you’ve gone and the things you’ve done there. Think also of the trips you would like to take. From travel guides to the settings for stories, your journeys can be a great source of ideas. Whenever you travel, it is a good idea to keep a journal and write down your thoughts and impressions. You never know where you might find your next idea.

What have you been doing?

Take a look at your areas of expertise. What jobs have you held? What hobbies have you had? What have you studied? These are your areas of knowledge. You may not be an expert, but in writing it is generally enough to be an intelligent amateur as long as you are willing to do the research for your story. Just as your friends are great sources of information, you are your greatest source. Not only do you know something about these things, but also you can rely on yourself, more than anyone else, to do the work required to find out more. Every job, from working in a warehouse to being a phone solicitor to managing a small office, has requirements and areas of interest. Think about how these things can become articles or stories.

What have you been reading?

If you are a writer, then chances are you are an avid reader, and it pays to keep a few notes while you read. The daily paper, magazines, the Internet and the books you read are great sources for ideas. My favorite example of this process is the movie The Player, in which a studio executive challenges anyone to read him a newspaper article and he’ll come up with a movie based on it. Over and over he turns the most mundane articles into feature film ideas. Ideas are everywhere.

What happened to you?

Beyond the jobs and hobbies you’ve had, there is plenty more to your life. There are hundreds of high points and low points in every person’s life: people found and lost, love shared and unrequited, accidents, plots, plans, choices and mistakes. Most of your memories are worthy of a story or article, because chances are you haven’t managed to remember the ordinary and mundane parts of your life, just the highs and the lows and the elements that contribute to who you are. Your life is an endless source of material if you have the talent to make it interesting to others.

Ideas are all around you. If you go through the items above, you will have plenty of ideas to work with, but beyond that, you just need to keep your eyes open and your other senses ready to back them up. Ideas will come to you if you are paying attention. Just remember to have some system to keep track of them, even if it is just a notebook for you to jot things down in. Your ideas are fuel for your writing. Keep plenty of fuel handy.

I stared at the question for a solid minute. This was serious business. If I hit the button, I would be erasing my past. It would all be gone. I hadn’t carefully sorted through the messages looking for value. There could be important stuff in there: Letters from friends, questions from readers, passwords and PINs, half-written articles that I could still finish someday. Was I really crazy enough to hit the button?

The mind is a curious device. Somewhere in the back of it there’s a place that keeps track of all the things you should be doing but aren’t. It doesn’t matter whether they are good things or bad things, they just keep echoing in the back of your mind. You should be cleaning the kitchen. You should be losing those extra pounds. You should be finishing that blog post. You should be figuring out why the check engine light has been on for 30,000 miles. You should be watching that Freaks and Geeks DVD that Netflix sent you last November.

There are four things you can do about your unfinished tasks. You can do them, you can delegate them, you can renegotiate them or you can decide that you’ll never do them. That last one is tough, but necessary. You can’t do everything you want to do, everything you need to do, and especially everything you feel like you should do, but don’t really have to do. At some point, you have to eliminate some of the things on your list. Eliminating the wants is hard. It is hard to give up on something you want to do. Eliminating the shoulds is also hard though, because somewhere along the line you made an agreement with yourself that you would take care of these things. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t really important or enjoyable; you made an agreement with yourself. At some point though, you have to cut out the shoulds, or you’re going to end up eliminating too many wants.

So, I hit the button. I deleted the 92,452 emails. There was a momentary feeling of regret, but there was also relief. Those 92,452 things had been eliminated from my to-do list with the click of a button. I was free. I could start over.

Put the past behind you

Projects create things like paper files, computer files, sticky notes, white board entries and the like. When you are starting a new project, you want to put any dead projects behind you. Whether you throw your old files away or just put them aside for safe keeping, now is the time to purge. You’ll want plenty of space (physical and mental) for the new project to occupy. This is also a good time to remind yourself that any personal conflicts you had in the past with potential teammates and other working relationships need to be put in the past. A fresh project needs a fresh outlook.

Create a project file

A new project requires new files, whether they are on your computer or in your file cabinet. Create a space to store all of the documents that inevitably come in as a project moves forward. This includes previous documentation attempts, specifications and business reviews, emails, notes, project tracking, graphics and anything else that needs to be captured.

Set up a tracking system

There are more ways to track a project than you can count. People use to-do lists, milestones, Gantt charts, daily calendars, workweek calendars, personal organizers, Blackberries, Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, color coding, severity levels, Harvey Balls and a variety of other systems. Use what your company wants or whatever works for you, but take the time to track your progress on the project. Not knowing where you are makes it hard to decide where you are going.

Make a contact list

New projects often come with new people. You need to remember who does what and how to contact people when you need to. Even if you are working with the same group you always work with, it doesn’t hurt to make sure everyone has the same email addresses, phone numbers and job roles that you think you remember. Additionally, you need to record information about file locations, websites, logins, teleconference phone numbers, meeting room phone numbers and any other key information that you’ll need at your fingertips. I recommend programming this information into your mobile phone so that it is with you all the time, but make sure you have another version you can access from your computer.

Remind yourself to relax

New projects can be tense, especially at the beginning and near the end. At the beginning people are struggling to find their roles and define their needs. Towards the end people are under the pressure of deadlines, especially if a project has fallen behind. It is easy to get overstressed. When you feel yourself starting to lose perspective and get tense, find a way to relax. Tense people tend to make bad decisions, and then they have to scramble even more to correct them. Find a way to constructively release the pressure. Tools include meditation, stretching, walks or other exercise, and friends. Take the time to deal with your stress and relax. In the long run you will be more effective.

Because I am using the Getting Things Done organizational system, I am obliged to make a complete and accessible collection of these unfinished projets. At minimum I need to list each project, the desired outcome, and the next action step towards achieving that outcome. Projects may be as minor as transferring data from my wife’s old notebook computer or as major as publishing a book of poetry or taking a trip to New Zealand. Once this information is collected, I need to track my progress on each item. This is no small task, but it is certainly achievable.

My first major hurdle was to decide what system to use to track these projects. Getting Things Done proposes several systems, but none of them suited me particularly well. Paper files were exactly what I didn’t want. The idea behind getting organized was to free up both my mental and physical space. I want to dispose of every piece of paper I can possibly be rid of, so having a file cabinet full of them was not a pleasant thought. I tried it, but I just had no enthusiasm for the idea. If I have too many papers to keep in an inbox, it is time to purge.

The alternative to paper was electronic organizers, but the problem with most of them is convenience. I want to be able to access my tasks from anywhere, but I don’t want them tied to a particular device because then I am out of luck if something happens to it. I needed something that I could access from my Blackberry, my iTouch, my personal computer and my work computer. In fact, the best solution would be something that I could use even if I didn’t have access to any of these. I thought about using some of the Google tools or some other online package, but I wasn’t sure I could have access to them from work. An organizational system would do me no good if I couldn’t use it in the main place that I needed it.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the answer was right in front of my face. What I needed was a blog! I’m a blogger. I know Wordpress better than almost any other tool at my disposal, and it is perfect for capturing individual items that require notes and updates. I can write as much as I want about each task and even attach files if I need to. The list is searchable and can be filtered using both categories and tags. More importantly, I can access the blog from every one of my key devices or from any open computer. I know enough about WordPress and file protection to keep the new site secure and invisible so that nobody needs to see it but me. I can even use the scheduling feature to move items into future cues so I see them on certain dates and not before. In essence, WordPress is my new organizational tool and it meets every one of my needs. Blogging has scored another brownie point in my life,

Of course, there is theory and then there is practice. I am still imputing all of my loops, but I’ll keep you updated on how things go and at some point I’ll give the details behind setting an organizational blog up for yourself.

Day 1: 12:00 noon to 5:00 PM

The story to date:

I bought Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity both in print and on Mp3. This weekend’s project is to organize my home office. The first step was to go to the store and buy the items on the GTD list. Those included:

• Three Paper Holding Trays
• Plain letter sixed paper
• Pens
• Post-its
• Paper clips
• Binder clips
• Stapler and staples (Red Swingline of course)
• Scotch tape
• Rubber bands
• An automatic labler (i fudged on this because I have one at the office)
• File folders
• A calender
• Waste basket

I also bought a new desk and two Ottomans that open up for storage. My wife went along and bought here own things. Total bill, about $600. So far, a pricey proposition, but we do what we have to.

Day 1: 5:40 PM

Opening packages up I cut my fingers twice.

Day 1: 5:55 PM

Found cool stapler graphic. Now I have to get some work done.

Day 1: 6:10 PM

My In/Out/Pend boxes need some assembly. It is taking longer than I would have thought. Also, I am having an internal debate. Should I set up my desk before I gather my stuff, or get everything organized and then set up my desk last. I’ll let you know what I decide.

Day 1: 6:27 PM

The baskets are finally together. My thumbs are sore. I have decided to wait until everything else is organized before switching desks. That is the first project I will put into my basket.

Day 1: 6:55 PM

I have decided that the smaller of the two Ottomans will hold games related items such as my Dungeons and Dragons books while the larger will hold books that i don’t intend to read in the near future but still want to keep. I am getting rid of most of my books, however, because I have discovered that I prefer books on audio for pleasure and the Internet for most reference needs. This will help me create a less cluttered, more “zen” office. I will still have a small bookshelf for books that I use frequently or intend to read soon.

Day 1: 7:47 PM

I’m about halfway through my books now. I had already purged a bunch of them earlier this week. It looks like I am going to keep even less of them than I expected. Most of the books I am keeping are poetry and author-signed books with just a few references.

Day 1: 9:00

Finished sorting through my books. Moved old bookshelf to the garage. I had to adjust the new bookshelf to the two different general book heights, which leaves a small shelf in the middle. I’m sure something on my overflowing table (in box) will fit there.

Day 1: 10:17

I’ve begun to make progress on my desk, which I had piled with all of my items to process except for the ones in the closet. I’m about halfway through the pile. Most of the items have been thrown away, a few are filed and others have been put back in their place. I’ve also identified about 5 projects (things that will take more than a couple minutes) that I will have to tackle based on what I have found. I still have a long way to go, but it is a start.

Day 2: 1:37 PM

Back at it. The table is clear enough to see most of the items now. So many things that have been left untended.

Day 2: 4:42 PM

I am halfway through the closet now. There were a lot ofpapers to go through, mostly three-year old bills and such that needed shredding.

Day 2: 6:36 PM

The closet has been cleaned out and then repopulated. Most of the space will hold my office supplies, so that they don’t need to be seen unless I am using them.

It is easy to mistake feeling relaxed for feeling sleepy. When the body is near the point of exhaustion, it must relax, so I associate that loose-limbed feeling with exhaustion rather than relaxation. I have been so used to feeling tense that feeling relaxed was unnatural. I yawned a lot. I slept and slept, thinking I needed more rest, but the feeling didn’t go away. I was relaxed, but I didn’t know how to be relaxed.

I’m happy to have left the tension behind me, and I want it to stay there. Relaxation is not without its own problems though. For one thing, my productivity has dropped. It turns out that stress is a motivator. It is not a healthy motivator, but it is a motivator. When you are relaxed, you let things go. I used to think fondly about the idea of relaxation, but I had too many things I wanted to accomplish. Now I am relaxed. The drive to accomplish is still there, but it has gone from a drum beat thundering in my ears to a piano melody playing softly in the background. It is more easily ignored, especially when the task is unpleasant or doesn’t have a clear benefit.

The problem is that there is a limit to the number of things you can let slide without there being some consequences. My boss, for example, still seems to think that I should show up every day and do my job. He’s funny that way, but he’s a nice guy so I don’t want to disappoint him. My wife has a few things she likes me to get done as well. She’s also nice, so I don’t want to disappoint her.

My wife and my boss are both adjusting to the new, relaxed me, but I also wanted to let you folks who read my blog know that things are a little different now. I like writing the blog, but there are parts of it I don’t enjoy as much anymore. I’m going to work on increasing the number of things I enjoy doing and decreasing the number of things I don’t enjoy doing. Thank you for bearing with me as I figure out what those things are.

Oh, and if you get the chance, relax.

For a moment, I wasn’t even sure if I had the equipment to change a tire. I used to have a road kit in my car, but somewhere along the line it had gone missing. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I had a spare tire. I was driving a minivan, and had never actually seen a spare. I knew it wasn’t in the back of the van, so I took a look under the van and sure enough, there sat the temporary tire. I slid as far under the car as I could. I’m a big man, so sliding under cars is not my strong suit. I tried to unscrew the tire, but it was locked into place. After a few fruitless efforts, I went back to the cab of my car and sat there. I was frustrated and picked up my Blackberry, trying to find a nearby garage. I even made a call, but they didn’t provide towing service or mobile tire repair, so they were of no use.

I went around to the back of the van and opened the hatch. Looking around, I found a panel that opened up. Inside the panel was a jack and a short lug wrench (I had to look up that name later) but no instructions. I tried to use the jack to bang on what I thought was the screw holding up the tire, but it did nothing. I got out from under the car again and sat there for a while, watching the tractor trailers and other vehicles whiz by me so fast that the van rocked. It was about then I noticed that I was sitting next to a small cap in the floor of the van. I lifted the cap up and saw a large nut being held in place by a cotter pin (I actually knew what a cotter pin was). I took the lug wrench and tested to see if it fit the nut. It did.

For the first time that day, I began to think I might have a handle on the situation, but I wasn’t about to unscrew a nut without a little more to go on. It was time to ask for advice. I called my father and asked him if he knew how to get the wheel out from under a minivan. I told him about the nut, and asked what he thought. My father wasn’t sure either, but he put me on with my nephew, who agreed that the nut would probably lower the wheel. That was enough for me, so I got back to work on it.

Sure enough, by untightening the nut (righty tighty, lefty loosie) I began to crank down the tire. It turns out that the part that I thought was the screw holding it in was just a big bar to hold it tight. It was far bigger than the hole it covered though, so I still didn’t know how to get the tire off of the bar. It probably took another minute of evaluation for me to realize I just needed to turn it sideways.

Now that I had the tire out, the real fun could begin. The flat tire was on the rear driver’s side of the car, so I had to stand/squat with my back to the traffic passing about a foot or two away from me, and change the tire. First I had to break loose the nuts before I could jack up the van (even I know that you don’t want to try this once the wheel is in the air). Then I found find a good spot to attach the jack. I wasn’t very confident in the spot because it was under the outer body rather than further beneath the car, but there was a T-joint there so I told myself it had to be solid. I jacked up the car and removed the tire. As I was doing that, a truck driver chose to blast his horn at me. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but I got the tire off.

I tried to put the temporary tire on, but the van wasn’t high enough, so I had to jack it up further. I kept waiting for the jack to slip or the body to bend, but everything held up and I got the replacement tire on. Finally, I was able to pack up my stuff and get back on the road. I headed back to my house to relax for a few minutes. Once my hands stopped shaking I headed to a garage to get my flat fixed. After it was finished I treated myself to lunch at a good restaurant and had my car washed, then I went to get an emergency kit and a beginner’s book about car repair.

What does this have to do with writing? Maybe a little and maybe a lot, but here is some advice you might take from this.

1. Trouble can strike quickly and unexpectedly
2. Knowledge and preparation can save you frustration down the road
3. Sometimes you need to stop and evaluate your situation
4. There’s a difference between a temporary fix and a real solution
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice
6. When you get through a difficult situation, take a moment to celebrate
7. Try to be more prepared the next time trouble strikes

Hardiness is the ability to deal with stress in a healthy way rather than an unhealthy way. It is the ability to maintain a positive outlook and respond constructively when problems arise. There are always problems to be dealt with in life. How we respond to those problems is what determines both our short term and out long term success. When a hardy person encounters a problem, they tend to see the problem as a challenge rather than a disaster. They believe in their own ability to correct the problem or at least respond appropriately to the change.

Hardiness is one of the keys to a sustainable writing career. The ability to adapt positively to change can mean the difference between success and failure. There will always be problems that you have to deal with as a professional writer – economic problems, work challenges and personal issues. Over the course of a long writing career, you will have both daily frustrations and major career changing events. If you are hardy, you will be able to overcome and adapt to these problems. Hardy people usually respond to problems with what are known as the three Cs: Challenge, Commitment, and Control.

Challenge

Hardy people not only accept that life is filled with change, they look forward to change. They believe that change will educate and stimulate them. They look at change as opportunity. Because of this, they thrive in adverse or difficult situations. Hardy people will often take on difficult challenges precisely because they are difficult.

Commitment

Hardy people are rarely bored. They like the things they do and they have the determination to see whatever task they are doing through to the end. When new obstacles present themselves, they tend to increase their commitment to success rather than give in to negativity and defeatism. Whatever they are doing, they are committed to seeing it through to the end.

Control

Hardy people believe in their own ability to influence the events around them. When problems occur, they believe that they can either fix the problem or at least adapt to the problem. They have a strong sense of initiative, and look for ways to turn potentially negative situations into positive ones.

Don’t Be Intimidated

Don’t feel bad if the three Cs haven’t come naturally to you so far in life. While the three Cs may be automatic for some people, for most of us this is something we need to learn, and keep learning. I’ll be honest. I haven’t felt particularly hardy lately, which is one of the reasons I am writing about this. I wanted to remind myself of what the best ways to deal with problems are. Next time, we will look at some of the strategies for increasing your hardiness.

My career as a writer has not been good for my body. I weigh far more than I should because I spend most of my day sitting. I have a perpetually bad back and stiff neck from poor positioning. At the end of a long day in front of a computer my vision starts to get fuzzy and I have to increase the size of the text on my screen. For almost a year in the nineties, I could barely type due to a repetitive motion injury to my left elbow. During one particularly tense stretch at a company that shall remain nameless, I developed a tick in my right eye that nearly drove me crazy and an earache that didn’t go away until the day after I quit that job.

Writing is hard, not just mentally but physically. It isn’t professional athlete hard or standing on an assembly line hard, but there are plenty of hazards to be had. If you want to build a financially sustainable writing career, you need to take care of your body. Fixing your body is expensive and doing without it impossible, so taking care of it is your best choice. Here are some keys to building a sustainable writer’s body.

Think Locally, Act Ergonomically

Seek out chairs that are kind to both your butt and your back. Invest in a trackball or other ergonomically designed mouse. Get the largest, crispest monitor you can afford and make sure your text is clear enough to read for hours. Make sure everything is the proper height and distance. For more information read here.

Get Up Off Of That Thing

Try to get up, stretch, and walk around at least once every hour. No matter how comfortable a chair might be, it isn’t meant to hold you all day. When you maintain the same position for too long, tension starts to build in your body. Movement helps to relieve the tension.

You Can Dance If You Want To

You don’t need to be an athlete, but for the sake of a sustainable body, you need to get at least three sessions of moderate exercise in every week. There are hundreds of ways to exercise. If nothing else, go for a walk. Try to sustain some exercise for at least a half hour, three times a week.

There’s The Rub

Massages are a great way to reduce stress and keep your body healthy. I try to get an hour massage about twice a month.  It is one of the things I can look forward to that keeps me sane during the high-stress times.

Doctor Feelgood

Preventing health problems is always easier and cheaper than fixing health problems. Get that annual check up. Figure out if there are any danger signs that you need to deal with before they become major issues.

Crack That Back

On New Year’s Day, 1987, I drove my car off of Dead Man’s curve on River Road. I flipped the car and although I “walked” away, I suffered from severe back pain and decreased mobility. It took me two months to talk myself into seeing a chiropractor. By the end of the first visit I felt almost like myself again. When your back gets into trouble, a good chiropractor can help, especially if you go before it turns into a crisis.

Get a Peaceful, Easy Feeling

Stress release is the key to long term health. Stress builds up in many ways and for many reasons, from the way you sit to the pressure of a project to personal problems. Find a way to release that pressure when you need to. Learn to meditate. Find a relaxing hobby. Take a hot or cold shower. Get some sleep. Do what it takes to manage your stress before it becomes a problem.

How long do you need your career to be sustainable?

When considering the sustainability of your career there are some questions you need to ask. The first question is how long do I want this career to last? Most people don’t intend to stay in the same job, or even the same career for their entire life. You might want to be a freelance writer today, but you may not want it ten years from now. When considering sustainability, it is good to have a finite period of time in mind. If you don’t have a specific idea of how long you want your career to last, then a good time period to use is twenty years. Feel free to pick your own value though. If you do have an idea of what you want to transition to next, and when, part of your consideration should be about how you are going to position yourself for that next change.

How much money is enough money?

Money will always be a primary issue. You not only need to consider your income, but you need to consider your spending as well. You also need to ask how much damage a major crisis would have on your income.

For almost three years, I managed to live strictly off money I made from my web sites and money I made freelancing. I never had enough money to put much of anything aside. I just managed to meet my obligations and no more. There was more than one point at which I thought I wasn’t going to meet my obligations, but somehow money always came through. That doesn’t mean that the career choice itself was unsustainable. I was very careful with the money I did have coming in, and that helped. I spent money only on essentials, and made do without almost anything else.

Now, I work full time in addition to blogging part time. I make a considerable amount of money, so income isn’t a sustainability issue. That doesn’t mean that finances are no longer an issue. When I hade very little money coming in, I spent very little and I did my best to avoid debt because I knew how difficult it would be to pay back debt with so little money coming in. Unfortunately, the lessons I learned as a frugal freelancer did not carry over when I moved to a full time income. I have acquired debts and spent money on items I never would have considered when I had less income. Financially, there are still sustainability issues in my life.

Can you weather a crisis financially?

One of the key improvements that a full time job has provided, is insurance. As a web publisher and freelancer, I lived without it. If I had gone through even a minor medical emergency, it would have crushed me financially. Now, I have a job with paid time off and good health insurance as well as short and long term disability insurance. I can handle a minor or even a substantial health emergency.

Can you save for your future?

Another advantage of my current situation is that I now have retirement savings. I have access to a 401k, a pension program and even a profit-sharing program. Saving for the short term has been a problem for me, but saving for the long-term has been somewhat better because of all of these programs. There are similar steps that freelancers can take, but it is more difficult.

It isn’t about career choice, it is about career development

It may sound as if I am knocking my career as a freelancer. I am not. Being a freelancer was not the central problem that I had. The central issue was one of income. I did not take the steps that would have added to my income and helped me save for emergencies or get insurance. Had I run my career more wisely then, I may never have needed to move to a “more secure” job.

Next time I’ll look into some of the ways that you can make your career more financially sustainable.