Welcome back to my Wednesday feature, the Question of the Week. Please feel free to use this question as the topic of a blog post, for personal journaling, or simply for self-discovery.

This week’s question is What are the biggest distractions in my life, and how can I minimize or eliminate them?

The biggest distractions for me are definitely watching television and surfing the Internet. Those are my go-to time-wasters when my brain feels overloaded or I don’t want to do what I “should” be doing. I’ve tried a number of different strategies over the years to limit these distractions but (sigh) they always seem to resurface.

The most effective method I’ve found so far is keeping a detailed time log. I think I’ll reintegrate that practice into my life (I may or may not post my logs here occasionally–I don’t want to overwhelm [ahem, bore] you with the minutiae of my life).

What are your major distractions? What can you do to minimize or eliminate them?

Welcome back to my new Wednesday feature, the Question of the Week. Please feel free to use this question as the topic of a blog post, for personal journaling, or simply for self-discovery.

This week’s question is Right now, in this moment, what is the biggest obstacle standing in the way of your dreams?

My dream is to be able to write full-time. I still haven’t worked out whether that means writing novels or blogs or articles or nonfiction, but I know without a doubt that I want to be able to write. And I am writing. I’m even getting paid for it. But I can’t bring myself to quit my day job. The reason (a/k/a the giant effing obstacle)? Fear.

I’m afraid that I won’t have enough money, which is absolutely ridiculous. My husband does well enough that he’d be comfortable with me quitting work to stay home with kids, so we clearly have enough money for me to quit and make a real go at a writing career. But I grew up in a home where there was never enough money, where crushing debt was a fact of life, where lay-offs turned my family upside-down. The thought of quitting a really well-paid job for a possible non-paid job is absolutely terrifying.

I’m also afraid that I’ll fail. What if no one wants to publish my book (or read my articles)? What if I’m a terrible writer and no one has the heart to tell me? What if I don’t have the self-disciple to keep at it? What if I just give up and quit? What if I let everyone down?

I’m working on overcoming these fears, but it’s no easy task.

What about you? What’s your biggest obstacle?

I’ve been keeping a handwritten journal as one of my 101 things, and I’ve discovered that sometimes I need a little prompt to get my writing juices flowing.

Image from http://www.infed.org/research/keeping_a_journal.htm

 It occurred to me that I might not be alone in that need, so from now on I’ll be posting a Question of the Week every Wednesday. You can use the question for personal journaling, as a blog post, or just to stimulate a little outside-the-box thinking.

Today’s question is Do you believe in the “forever job”? If so, do you know what yours is?

A little bit of background… A friend of mine who’s in the throes of her quarterlife crisis uses the term “forever job” to refer to the idea that there’s a career out there that’s aligned with her purpose, and that once she finds it, she’ll stick with it forever.

I don’t know that I believe in the “forever job” per se, but I do believe in a “forever purpose” and possibly a “forever career field”. For example, I’m 100% sure that writing is a key ingredient of my forever job. I might be writing novels, writing for magazines, writing personal development books, or writing on bathroom walls, but somehow, some way, writing is IT for me.

What do you think?

If you blog about this question, please let me know so I can check out your answer!