Elise Blaha Cripe - Big Dreams, Daily Joys

For my parents

(of course!)

Text copyright 2019 by Elise Blaha Cripe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-7654-3 (pb)

ISBN 978-1-4521-8130-1 (epub, mobi)

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Design by Kelley Galbreath.

I USED TO DREAD BEING ASKED what I did for a living. Id meet someone new and prepare myself for those five little words: So... what do you do?

I envied accountants, engineers, and food critics. It wasnt that I actually wanted any of those jobs. I didnt want to file other peoples taxes. I didnt want to build bridges. I actually wouldnt have minded eating at fancy restaurants, but I didnt want to write about it. I just loved how simple those careers were to explain. I thought it would be nice to have a compact and concrete answer that described how I spent my days.

From the time I was in high school through my early twenties, I had worked jobs with concrete titles. I had been an activities director at a nursing home. I was a smoothie maker at Jamba Juice. I was an admissions office intern at the University of Southern California. I was a management intern at Target stores. I spent time interning as an insurance claims adjuster and a public relations team member. I was a sales associate and then a workshops coordinator and then an assistant manager at a craft and gift store called Paper Source.

All those positions were well defined. They were clear on paper and easy to say. They were jobs that seemed interesting enough, paid me every two weeks, and promised the experience I craved for my resume. None of them felt like the right fit, but they were something to do until I found what it was that I really wanted to be doing.

For the past nine years, I have been working for myself, and I am still trying to get comfortable with the What do you do? question. (Thats a great side benefit of writing Big Dreams, Daily Joys. Now if asked, Ill be able to say, Im an author, and most people will get it.)

Part of why I have struggled so much with my answer is that what I do is always changing. For years I wrote daily blog posts. I opened an Etsy shop and sold letterpress prints and mini journals. I taught online classes. I designed a scrapbooking kit. I created and sold rubber stamps. I started a podcast. In 2014, when I couldnt figure out what to do next, I launched a project called MAKE29, and for a year I made it my job to create limited editions of various products such as knitted blankets, paintings, and screen-printed posters. I hoped that by the end of the year I would know what direction to take my business.

Another reason the What do you do? question gave me pause is that I never considered myself an expert or professional enough at anything I was doing. Each time I started something new, there was a similar pattern: my interest was piqued, I did a quick Google search for a tutorial or to research supplies, and then I hopped into the arena, ready to learn by doing. Who was I to call myself a writer? Or a designer? Or a podcaster? These were things that I was trying, sure, but what did I actually do to make a living and generate income? I pieced together a bunch of ideas and hoped for the best.

It took me years of piecing together all the things to find the one thing that finally felt right. In August 2014, while staining wooden plant stands with my dad to sell for my MAKE29 project, it hit me. What if I sold a planner? A paper planner that had goal-setting features? What if instead of just talking about how to get stuff done, I gave people a tool that would help them do the stuff?

Now theres an idea, he said.

It was an idea. And it was the beginning of my current business and the first concept that felt like something I could do for a long time.

I launched Get To Work Book, my planner business, in the spring of 2015. I spent eight months and $45,000 turning an idea Id had in my garage into a website ready to collect pre-orders. I was terrified.

People took a chance on my simple black-and-white planner and unofficial-looking web-site. Thanks mostly to social media and word-of-mouth recommendations, the Get To Work Book brand has grown. Today, my planner business is just over four years old and has fifty products under its umbrella. I lease a warehouse near my house and go there a few times a week to pack orders that are shipped all over the world. I got to turn my idea into a real business that helps people get stuff done.

This book is not about that one idea. Its not about how I started a billion-dollar company with five thousand employees and a #goals message (which is good because I dont have any of those things). Its not about how to get rich quick (you cant) or find your calling (you try everything you can) or hack a productive life in three simple steps (would you actually want to do that?).

Instead, this book is a guide to creating room in your days, dreaming bigger, and making progress toward your goals. Its about recognizing that through routine and pockets of time you can make progress and build a life you enjoy. This book will help you determine your priorities and show you how to separate the real work from the unnecessary fluff. Ill talk about making the most of your time by finding motivation, developing a practical schedule, and staying on track. And then I will share goal-reaching techniques that actually work and show you how to dream bigger.

Hours after I decided to write this book, I shared my intent with the internet. I am a big believer in making bold statements (well get into that later), and telling people what I am planning to do is part of how I turn my goals into action. A few minutes after I posted I got a message: I would love to know when you knew you had become expert enough to write a book on a topic?

Ahhhhhhh, I thought. Finally a question scarier than So... what do you do? Is it too soon to give up?

This book is a guide to creating room in your days, dreaming bigger, and making progress toward your goals.

Yep. Too soon. And also too late. I was going to write this. So my response was, Great question. I am not an expert at goal-setting, but I am a lifelong explorer of this topic and I am excited to share what I have learned so far.

I am not an expert on getting stuff done or accomplishing goals, but I do get stuff done, and I have accomplished many of my goals. I know this terrain. I know where to start. I have learned what to avoid and what should be explored more fully. I have developed habits that work and tricks to try, whether youre overwhelmed with ideas or struggling to simply get one thing accomplished each day.