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You Can Make Time For It — If You Want To.

Ben hikes through a shady section of a dirt hiking trail in Utah.

A funny thing I’ve noticed lately: I’ll be chatting with a friend and mention something that I was able to make time for — going skiing, spending time with the kiddo, reading books. And they’ll say, “Oh, I wish I had time for something like that!”

But when you probe a little deeper, you find that they often do have the time. We’ve all met people who are willing to wake up at 6 so they can squeeze in a workout before work, but who can’t seem to find the time to cook dinner.

And I get it: We’re all busy, and there’s never enough time for everything. But if there’s something you really value, there’s often a way to make space for it.

For me, one of those things is getting outside. I was feeling a little sluggish the other day, and I had a break between calls. I sat down, ate some lunch, and watched crappy TV on the couch for an hour. Weirdly, lying down on the couch didn’t particularly help with that sluggishness!

And as I went downstairs to go on my calls, I found myself asking: Why didn’t I get outside for a 20-minute walk to clear my head?

Yes, I’m busy. No, I don’t have time for everything. And no, I don’t need to fill every minute of the day with something.

But I have 20 minutes for a walk. I have time to read before bed. I can move things around so I can do the stuff I want.

I do have the the time if I want it.

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That’s a photo I took last summer of the kiddo and I on a little hike together here in the mountains.

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Great Ideas Come From Weird Places.

I’m reading Susan Morrison’s wonderful biography of Lorne Michaels, called “Lorne,” and this little story about Michaels and Paul Simon immediately caught my eye:

Michaels’s few off-hours that summer were spent in the studio where Simon was recording Still Crazy After All These Years, and he added, to his growing trove of showbiz stories, the one about how his friend Paul took the title of his song “Mother and Child Reunion” from the name of a chicken-and-egg dish on a Chinese menu.

An iconic song, titled thanks to the name of a menu item at a Chinese restaurant?

Yeah, great ideas can truly come from anywhere.

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A New Rule for 2026.

A road splits into two in a dark forest. There's snow covering the road and snow on the trees.

Here’s something I’m trying to stick to this year:

I’ll get these pitches in my inbox for something that seems interesting. Not incredible, but interesting, and I’ll say yes. Maybe it’s a potential client that I’m vaguely interested in working with or a brand that wants me to demo their product. I’m not totally sold, but hey, it seems interesting enough, and I’ll say yes to the call.

And then Sunday night, as I prep for the week ahead, I’ll see that meeting pop up on my cal, and I’ll go, “Why did I say yes to this again?”

I’m getting better about saying no to certain things, but I know I need to be even pickier. It’s a waste of their time and mine if I’m not 100% in before booking the call.

If I’m not incredibly excited to meet, the answer needs to be, “Sorry, I don’t think this is a good fit for me.”

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That photo of a fork in the road comes via Oliver Roos and Unsplash.

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Do You Need to Pivot?

A road sign with the words Turning Point on one end of the road and a red, do-not-enter sign on the other end.

Knowing if it’s time to make a change really comes back to one big question: What’s your goal for this work?

Take this blog. I’ve been writing here, pretty much weekly, for more than a dozen years. I don’t have analytics on the website, which means I have no idea how many people read danoshinsky.com. I started it to give myself a place to write. I don’t try to monetize this site or use it for any other purpose — it’s just a place to write.

If I found out that lots people were reading it every month, would I pivot to a new strategy? To be honest: Probably not. I like it as an outlet for writing, and I’m not looking for it to be more than that.

But what if I’d built it as a vehicle to drive success for a larger business? What if this was the thing I was using to sell products or a paid subscription, and it wasn’t driving those results?

Well, yeah: I’d be looking to pivot to the next idea.

What I like to tell clients is: Everyone has too many ideas. Your job is to recognize when things are working and double down — or recognize when things aren’t and be willing to move on. But that starts by thinking clearly about what you want to achieve from the work in the first place.

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That photo of a sign with the words “Turning Point” comes via Unsplash and Roger Bradshaw.

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Quieting Things Down.

Sunlight splashes across the pillows and comforter of a bed.

There are nights when I wake up at odd hours, and I’m suddenly thinking about work. I’ve got projects to take care of, emails to send, things I haven’t even started that I know are due soon. The stress of it all somehow hits in the middle of the night.

And I have to remind myself: There’s not a lot I can do at 3 a.m.

It doesn’t do me much good to worry, anyway. The anxiety doesn’t make the to-do list any shorter. What I can do is get back to bed, find a pocket of time to take on some work in the morning, and actually do the work.

And then do it again.

And again, and again.

But in the middle of the night, all you can do is remind yourself: You’ve done the work before, and you’ll do it again.

Just not at 3 a.m.

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That photo of sunlight across a bed comes via Unsplash and photographer Becca Schultz.

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Showing Your Work.

Catci, trees, and other plans grow alongside a walking path.

We took a visit to St. George, Utah, last weekend. And up on the hills above the city, there’s this little desert oasis called Red Hills Desert Garden.

Inside, there are walking paths and a little stream. You can cross over the stream on these beautiful red rocks, and walk along red clay paths to see spots where dinosaurs once roamed. You can see all sorts of desert landscaping, too. It’s quite beautiful, really.

And most interestingly: The entire thing is run not by the local parks department but by the Washington County Water Conservancy District.

Once I realized that, I started to notice that there were little signs everywhere talking about how to save water. In St. George, the average annual rainfall is about eight inches, and the county has made a push to encourage people to replace their lawns with desert landscaping. And as part of that push, they created this garden where locals can see just how beautiful their homes could be if they planted cacti or desert-friendly plants instead of grass in their yards.

They even host regular events and classes there, highlighting ways to conserve water and create a beautiful desert landscape on a budget.

Instead of just telling people that they should plant things that don’t use up lots of water, they created an entire garden as a showcase for this type of landscaping. It’s part-garden, part-showroom.

I love that they showed their work — and know that once you see what you can do with desert landscaping, others will choose to bring those ideas back to their own homes.

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I took that photo at Red Hills Desert Garden. Even on a cloudy day, the garden was still lovely to walk through.

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A Wish for the New Year.

Fireworks over a ski mountain — I believe it's Aspen.

There’s something I’ve noticed about my son: He always shows up with love.

He loves running over to family and friends to give hugs. (“Big hugs,” especially.) He’s always excited when he sees someone he knows. If he’s a little shy around a new person, it only takes a few minutes before they’re his new best friend.

That joy is contagious. Other people always seem so happy when they’re around Ben.

So here’s my wish for the new year: Show up with love. Show up excited to be around the people you care about. Be excited, be joyful. Be a little bit more like Ben.

We need more of that light in this world.

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That photo of fireworks over a ski mountain (Aspen, I think) come via photographer Jamie Fenn and Unsplash.

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You Don’t Have to Climb Every Mountain.

The letters PC on PC Hill are covered by a dusting of snow.

I have a big list of ideas I’d love to do one day. My “someday” list is long and getting longer. But finding the balance between work and family and fun is a weekly challenge. I’d love to do more — but what am I going to subtract in order to make it work?

What I have to remind myself as I get older is that while I like a challenge — and love the feeling when I’ve climbed that mountain and get to look back on all the great work I’ve done — I don’t have to go all in every time I get a good idea. I have time for some things but not all things.

Sometimes, you look at that next climb and have to say: Not today. Maybe another time.

There will be always be other mountains.

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I took that photo the other day in Park City of PC Hill. Look carefully and you can see the white letters PC at the top, covered partially in snow.

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Running on Empty.

a rusty old gas tank in front of a barn in Latvia

This was one of those weeks where it felt like everything happened. I launched a new product. I held a webinar. I talked with 15 different clients. I sent a thousand emails (give or take). I helped a ton of clients with end-of-the-year projects. 

And then Ben got sick, and so did I.

There was a moment on Friday afternoon when I thought about taking on a bit more work. I had a lot more stuff to do. But Ben was down for a nap.

So I took a nap, too.

You can’t operate on empty. You have to make time for yourself. Take a week. Exercise. Cook yourself dinner. Read a book. Go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Do literally anything other than work.

Yes, you’re busy. We all are. But the work isn’t going to be very good if the tank is empty.

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That photo of an old gas tank, left out to rust somewhere in Latvia, was taken by Krišjānis Kazaks and shared via Unplash.

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The Moments Before Launch.

I’m launching a new paid product for my readers this week, and I don’t know how it’ll go. We might sell a lot of the product, and we might not sell much. (We’ll sell something, I hope!)

All I can really control is the process. I’m proud of the work that’s gone into building this product. We’re thinking about this product in a smart way, I think. We’ve asked lots of questions; we’ve reached out to lots of people for feedback. The product itself is pretty darn good.

What I love, though, is this moment right before the product goes out into the world. I’ve worked hard on it and made it better and better. The work that went into it was really good. And even though I worked hard it on, I don’t really know how readers will react until I put it in front of them.

I wish I had more control over what happens next, but I don’t. (The marketing plan is good, but it’s just a plan!) I’ll announce the product this week, and whatever happens, I’ll learn from it. If we sell a lot, if we don’t — I’ll learn more that’ll inform whatever I make next.

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That photo of hot-air balloons flying over Albuquerque comes via Ian Dooley and Unsplash.

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