Taking Photos of My Feet

A few moments ago, I sat down today to write, and instead I took out my phone and snapped a nice picture of my feet up on the coffee table with the laptop in the foreground, new office in the background, feet in focus.

Hashtag hustle.

Hashtag rise and grind.

Only, I wasn't hustling. I wasn't grinding.

I was taking a photo of my feet up on a coffee table and I was going to share it on Instagram.

Even for a - pardon the cringe here - influencer like myself, that can hardly be called work, let alone hustle or grind.

Thankfully, I caught myself, put my phone away, and got to writing.

Ok… that's not entirely true. It wasn’t some sudden bout of inspiration. I just realized that it didn't look nearly as cool as I thought it would, so I shut off the phone and got back to work.

So here I sit.

The truth is… I'm not really in a writing mood.

I don't really feel like writing today.

But it's a good thing I don't live by feelings, but by intention. At least that's the goal.

I'm reminded of one of my all-time favorite quotes, one that really did change my life in a profound way. It's usually attributed to the great American novelist William Faulker and it goes like this.

Someone asked Mr. Faulkner, "Do you write on inspiration or do you write on a schedule?’ Faulkner replied. ‘Well, of course I write on inspiration. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at a quarter past nine.’

When we wait for inspiration to strike, or to be in the right mood to do the work, we will often be waiting a long time. We may be waiting our entire lives, and find that in the end, the feeling never came, but what did come was regret.

So all I want to ask is this:

Are you doing the work today?

Or are you taking pictures of your feet on a coffee table?

Now go get your work done.

-Brandon