Q2, is that you?

What are some of your goals for this quarter?

I hadn’t taken any time off (outside of sick time) this year, so I gave myself three days off earlier this week and enjoyed a 5-day weekend. I’d like to tell you I went on a hike and cleaned my baseboards like I’d planned to do, but I honestly just stayed in bed and binged HBO’s The Gilded Age.

I have no regrets.

Within the next week or so, I want to revisit my annual goals and make sure I set some Q2 benchmarks. But, I needed to give myself permission to clear my mind first. This year hasn’t turned out anything like I expected career-wise. It’s been a necessary challenge, especially as an overly-ambitious self-employed person, to learn to be comfortable with just doing “okay” professionally.

In light of the ongoing conversation about whether or not it’s appropriate for journalists to themselves be brands, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way I show up online. Admittedly, I’m a person who loves words more than I love photos of myself so I’ve always skewed towards Twitter online. But, I recognize the value of other platforms and have committed to trying to figure out how to better engage with them in a way that feels authentic to me.

Here are a few journalists I think are doing this well: