Plans are nothing; planning is everything. —Dwight D. Eisenhower
August Blueprint 2026:
My Attitude Towards Planning and How it Has Changed
The Dawn of a New Day. Photo by Wendy Stieg
I was a classroom teacher for many years. I also worked as a school district admin. Before and during that time, I also taught skiing as well as coached competitive youth skiing. I guess you could say part of me identifies with being a teacher. Now, however, I want more than that. Nothing negative toward teachers, but I feel like more than 20 years of teaching means it’s time to learn something else. You might be tempted to say I am really into planning. That’s not true, I really don’t like planning. But life has taught me it is a necessary evil. The thing I have always struggled with is staying patient while planning. I am the kind of person who wants things yesterday. I stomp my foot a lot and occasionally grind my teeth when things don’t go fast enough. I know this is not healthy, but it is so very me. August’s Blueprint is really a reflection on where I am in the planning process and what I am beginning to understand about myself as a planner.
There is one thing life has taught me: Waiting for motivation does not work. But you can decide what you want, then create a goal and build momentum instead of waiting. And as an impatient foot-stomper, learning to trust the process has been a challenge. Trust happens when you recognize that small adventures, added together over time, have a compounding effect as you move toward your travel goal. But how do you know if you are even moving forward? This month’s Blueprint looks at building momentum, how small adventures compound, and remembering to give yourself credit for any forward movement, no matter how small.
Building Momentum
One thing I have noticed when I observe successful people is that they don’t wait until all of the conditions are perfect. They also don’t allow little annoyances or minor roadblocks to stop them. They push through, and persevere. When you think about travel, sure, some people have enough money sitting around all the time. I am not one of those people. And I am happy for them. But if I wait until I have enough money, I will never leave Colorado. There are other “enoughs,” and I cannot allow them to clog the gears. What about enough confidence? Enough time? Or how about the perfect idea? Waiting for all of those things to be perfect results in procrastination, and if you swirl around in procrastination you will never get on an airplane or in your car for a road trip.
What options do you have, then, if you consciously decide all conditions don’t need to be perfect? I'd say finding small ways to build momentum is one of the best things you can do. I have a strong vision in my head of where I want to be personally, professionally and physically in my life.
I wrote more about taking that first step in Building Best of Both Worlds, where I realized that you don't need the entire blueprint before you begin.
I am working on building a blogging business, on strengthening my resolve, and on getting my mind and body into better shape. So for me, these steps can look like applying for a job, writing a blog post, creating a store on Etsy, creating a planner, taking a hike or working on a house project.
Small steps are momentum, and that momentum creates motivation. It does not happen the other way around. That means you can start exactly where you are, make a decision, and take the first step. As you do that, you will feel more motivated. I write this for myself as much as for anyone. I’m pretty sure I am not the only impatient foot-stomper out there.
Compounding Small Adventures
If taking steps creates motivation, you naturally keep moving forward. Along the way, you accomplish small things. Those small things become mini adventures. When you step back and get some perspective, you will see that you have accomplished far more than you probably give yourself credit for. That can also help with patience. As an impatient foot-stomper, I am not really a chill person. It sounds good, figuring out how to be a chill person, but I don’t think I have ever been a chill person. I procrastinate, and being chill is not in my nature.
That means I have to force myself to slow down, and even stop what I am doing to get perspective. Without that perspective, I tend to keep heaping more on top of myself. Then I have a tendency to get tunnel vision and define success in larger chunks. I have a very strong drive to complete things, but the balance for that is accepting what I have gotten done. When I slow down and do that, I feel much more grateful for all that is working in my life, and for what I have accomplished.
All of those little adventures contribute to our forward momentum. And that means the planning you do up front is paying off. So for a self-proclaimed impatient procrastinator, planning has huge benefits. But to keep that sense of moving forward, I have to slow down enough to recognize that those efforts become mini adventures, and together they move me toward larger goals, like taking a trip to Europe.
Dogs in a Pile in Ridgway, CO
Follow me here. Hiking Black Canyon of the Gunnison, listening to Dogs in a Pile in the park in Ridgway, and taking day trips to Ouray keep me motivated. They keep me in a space of joy while also moving me toward Europe.
Living in Montrose has made those small adventures possible in ways I never expected. I began thinking this through in We Didn't Know We Were Moving to One of Colorado's Greatest Base Camps.
As I allow this small space for joy, it means waiting is a little less heavy and trust has replaced fear that we might not ever get there. That fear is replaced with confidence because I can see other areas of my life actually working.
How Do You Know You're Moving Forward?
I have hired myself.
This decision really began with The Next There, when I realized I wasn't searching for another job so much as I was trying to build a different kind of life.
Finding work right now is seriously challenging. And very discouraging. But there is also a huge opportunity here. I have decided to keep looking for part-time work while taking stock of where I am. I have hired myself. That means I am my own boss, and it also means I get to make the big decisions. And live by them. As a solopreneur, I take on the risk as well. I have never shied away from risk. But it’s also scary because running on a whole lot less money means things are harder. That said, progress doesn’t always look like money.
What does progress look like if you still aren’t earning a paycheck, yet? In my case, it means learning SEO (Search Engine Optimization), how to publish my writing, creating digital and physical products, improving my photography, and becoming a better writer. All of these things have an unexpected effect: They are building confidence.
Planning on having my next office in a kitchen in France.
I remind myself that I am experiencing a lot of success. The money just hasn’t caught up yet. But just yesterday, I launched my first travel planner and keepsake. I find myself giving myself more credit rather than continually waiting or adding more on top of myself. By giving myself permission to recognize this forward movement has been a very positive thing in all of this.
Final Thoughts
This makes me think about my overall vision, my blueprint, for what I want to have happen in my life. Taking stock is a huge opportunity I have right now, to truly be the architect of my life.
That idea has become the foundation of this blog. I explore that foundation in: I don't want to escape my life. I want to build a better one.
I will happily take on the risk because I see so much more potential for income than I ever had being someone else’s employee. Thinking back to my teaching days, I realize I have come a long way. I have taught myself how to build a blog, publish my writing, learn SEO, and create a blueprint for my business. I am grateful for my years in education, and I am grateful I am no longer doing that work. It’s hard to say if teaching gave me the ability to plan or if maybe I'm secretly a planner after all. Maybe.
But I still don’t really like planning. For someone like me, it is good to realize that it is through many small steps and accomplishments that we get to the goal we have set. That and perseverance. My perspective has changed a little, but I think I am mainly moving into a space of acceptance. What has changed is my ability to recognize my small accomplishments and allow them to carry me toward the finish line.
My first travel planner is published!
Months of planning, writing, designing, and revising have finally come together. I'd love for you to check out Bon Voyage: A Guided Travel Keepsake at my very first Shopify store and see if it's something you'd enjoy taking on your next adventure.
The future depends on what you do today. —Mahatma Gandhi
July’s Blueprint: Small Steps to Make Freedom Happen
Walking through Carmona, Spain. Photo by Wendy Stieg.
How Do You Get From Ideas to Plans?
I have had a very strong desire to break free for a very long time. I remember when it was the dawn of the Internet, when it had more positivity and promise. There were no such things as trolls, and people seemed to be a lot more authentic. I stumbled upon some website or other that talked about self-improvement. This website also stated that a job is one of the worst ways to make money. What did they mean by worst? Probably, they meant you had little chance of making significantly more money, changing how much of your life you traded for income, or changing your station in life based on that income. But waking up this morning, I started to think about that. And how do you go from having or needing a job to having your own manageable source of income?
I wish I had the magic answer for that, but I do believe that a job, while predictable, is based on someone else’s ideas of how you need to behave, show up, and think for about a third (or more) of your life. That’s if you work full-time. You live for the weekends, and you dream about what it might be like to be doing something else. The idea that you have it within you to have, do, or be anything in this life has stuck with me for many years. I have lived through a lot in my time on this rocky planet, and have found that it is my beliefs that dictate, ultimately, what I think. I have spent many years trying to understand what those beliefs are and, more importantly, how to change them.
If you look at your own life, you will see that this is true. The tricky part is being able to reflect on your life enough to be able to see what those beliefs are. I have found that the freedom I crave is also the hardest part of my life to change.
If you've ever wondered where that desire for freedom comes from in the first place, I explored that question in I Don't Want to Escape My Life. I Want to Build a Better One. It became one of the first times I realized I wasn't trying to escape my life at all. I was trying to build one that felt more aligned with who I wanted to become.
Wrestling with Freedom and What Feels Real for Me
I did a little experiment many years ago. I wrote down 100 things I would do if I won the lottery. It turned out to be a fascinating thought experiment because after about the first 25 things, the really big ones, I started writing down things I could actually do without winning the lottery. Winning the lottery is a fun fantasy because we imagine it would make all of our problems suddenly disappear. But is that really true? Does having so much money change our need for connection? Does it somehow free us from the relationships that give life meaning? Does it protect us from illness, loss, or death? Does it remove consequences? I don’t think so. If anything, greater freedom often comes with greater responsibility.
It reminds me a little of the Adam Sandler movie Click, where he finds a way to skip over all the parts of life he doesn’t want to experience. In the end, he discovers that you don’t get to bypass life without paying a price. That makes me wonder what it is we are really craving when we say we want freedom. I wish money were the answer, but at some level we all know it isn’t. Money can make life easier, but it doesn’t remove the things that make us human, nor does it fix everything.
Where I have landed, at least for now, is that freedom begins with finding something each day that makes me genuinely happy. Not just grateful, but deliriously happy. That feeling of joy isn’t something money can buy. It comes from doing work you enjoy, creating something with your hands, spending time with people you love, or simply being present in the life you already have. Do you need to win the lottery to experience that? I don’t think so.
What I do know is that freedom looks different for each of us. For me, it isn’t about escaping responsibility. It isn’t about never working again. It is about creating a life where my work, my time, and my choices are more closely aligned with who I am. I don’t know exactly how to get there yet. If I did, I would probably write the book everyone wants to read, thus creating wild success. But I do know this: if you don’t learn to appreciate what you already have, no amount of money will ever give you the freedom you crave. That part has always been an inside job.
Recognizing the Detour
Life is filled with possibilities. It can also be filled with internal shoulds. Those small voices, whispering what you should do, what is safe, what is expected, and what is realistic. If you pay attention, you begin to realize those thoughts are connected to what you truly believe. Do you believe you can be successful? Do you believe there is enough to go around? Do you believe you have what it takes to create a different kind of life? Those beliefs shape every decision you make. The tricky part is recognizing the ones that no longer serve you. You know when you’ve just experienced a no-longer-serving-you-belief because your whole body changes. Your thinking becomes smaller, fear takes over, and suddenly the life you were building feels impossible.
That happened to me yesterday. Paul left the house unsure whether he would be allowed to work with his broken wrist. Within minutes, I had applied for two jobs because part of me still believes a job is the only reliable way to make money. There is nothing wrong with having a job, and I will continue applying for work while we need the income. But that isn’t the life I ultimately want to build. I want to write. I want to create. I want to build independent sources of income that grow over time. Yesterday reminded me that fear can still pull me back toward old beliefs, but it also reminded me that I don’t have to let those beliefs decide where I am going. That choice is still mine.
One of the biggest lessons I've learned while building this blog is that clarity rarely arrives before you begin. More often, it shows up because you begin. That's something I wrote about in Building Best of Both Worlds, where I realized that waiting for the perfect plan was actually keeping me from making progress.
Getting to a Workable Plan
So what does that look like in practice? This month, my plan is simple. Publish consistently. Apply for one job each day until I find the right fit. Continue building my marketing business. Continue looking for independent contract work. Keep building the blog because that is the foundation everything else rests on. Paul and I still plan to go to Spain. We may have to fit it around our work schedule instead of waiting for the perfect moment, but the vision hasn’t changed. With freedom as the ultimate goal, it becomes much easier to decide where to spend my time and energy. One thing is certain: life will be different in five years. By staying true to that vision and working toward it every day, I know I am already building the life I want.
Right now, that looks like staying consistent with writing the blog. That means continuing to explore employment. That also means continuing to seek contract labor. I have proven to myself that I can write and that I love to write. It comes naturally to me. So I am leveraging that. I also understand marketing from real life experiences: I taught skiing for 16 years. Marketing was what you had to do in those days if you were going to be successful. I have helped support small businesses as they have gotten off the ground. I have learned through building my blog how to market what I do. I can do this for other people as well. My path to success doesn’t look like one giant breakthrough. It looks like building several skills and several streams of income that support one another over time, and trying new things.
The Blueprint in Action
So what does that look like in practice? This month, my plan is simple. Publish consistently. Apply for one job each day until I find the right fit. Continue building my marketing business. Continue looking for independent contract work. Keep building the blog because that is the foundation everything else rests on. Paul and I still plan to go to Spain. We may have to fit it around our work schedule instead of waiting for the perfect moment, but the vision hasn't changed. With freedom as the ultimate goal, it becomes much easier to decide where to spend my time and energy. One thing is certain: life will be different in five years. By staying true to that vision and working toward it every day, I know I am already building the life I want.
This month's Blueprint was inspired by another lesson I've been thinking about lately: sometimes success isn't about pushing harder, but recognizing when it simply isn't the right time. If you enjoyed this article, you might also like July's Muse: The Right Time, where I explore what Hawaiian fishermen taught me about timing, patience, and trusting that the right conditions eventually arrive.
One page from my current "100 Things I Would Do" list. Looking at it now, I'm realizing more of these goals are possible than I once believed. Photo by Wendy Stieg
Sometimes the next step begins by quietly thinking about where you want to go. Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Wendy Stieg.
The road toward Cristo Rei outside Lisbon, Portugal. Progress rarely happens all at once. It happens one mile at a time. Photo by Wendy Stieg.