3 Reasons Why I Stopped Writing
And the reasons why I’m writing now
Photo by Will van Wingerden on Unsplash
I couldn’t write for six months. Before that, I wrote nearly 100 articles over a 3-year period — all in my spare time. I had built a pretty solid email list and a number of followers on a handful of platforms.
And then I stopped.
It wasn’t writer’s block. It was something else.
I didn’t stop writing entirely. I still wrote every day in my law practice. And I shifted my 15 minutes of daily writing to working on my children’s books. Now I have four completely drafted books and four more that are written but not in final draft form.
But I stopped writing about my reflections on reinvention and creativity. I stopped sharing what I’ve learned as an artist, lawyer, entrepreneur, advisor, and a storyteller.
Here’s why I stopped. Maybe my story will help you avoid stopping what makes you come alive.
1. I Hit a Plateau and Needed a Change
I noticed that I needed to change something in my career. Actually, my wife noticed. My family did, too. And my friends. And even some of my colleagues. I had hit a plateau.
I built my entire legal career around gaining practical skills that my ideal clients would covet. After I graduated, I sought out an apprenticeship model where I could learn from the best lawyers possible. Looking back, my plan worked. I learned from some incredible individuals. I had an incredible mentor and wrote an entire article about it. I was blessed to learn from another lawyer who I still believe is the best writer I have ever met — and I wrote an article about his best lessons on how to become a better writer.
Even so, I still hit a plateau. I had succeeded in gaining useful skills. But I was not yet in the right model that would allow me to take advantage and market those skills. That was my plateau.
While I had a comfortable life, I knew I could do better. The knowledge of my own potential created frustration and anxiety. I started to question my original decision to go to law school. I had to re-evaluate the last decade of my life — and that evaluation included my writing.
Why was I writing, and was it useful? What was working and what needed to change? I needed answers to those questions. And in that thought process, I froze many of the great habits I created, including my daily writing habit of 15 minutes every morning writing about my reflections about reinventing myself.
Even though I broke my writing habit, I decided on a path to get off the plateau that was causing me anxiety. I needed to make a change, and I did.
2. I Moved to a Different Law Firm
My friend Richie Norton has a saying, which I love and absolutely believe in: change how you’re paid, change your life. That was how I was going to step off of the plateau and get back into a growth mode in my career.
That’s one of the reasons why I changed law firms recently. My new firm pays differently than my prior one. I’m convinced that every new opportunity of the future must be capable of generating wealth. Otherwise, that opportunity is at risk of disappearing. That’s what I was looking for, and that’s what I believe I have found.
It was a multi-year process to make the change. And I severely underestimated how much work it takes to change firms. I know I could have done better, and I went through the process to change because I knew that I had to change. But it took time away from my writing and publishing habit. It was a necessary step to move into the future that I wanted, but I unintentionally had to sacrifice my writing and publishing habit in order to get there.
3. I Changed How I Operate Professionally
I knew that changing law firms was not enough. I had to change how I practiced law.
I wanted to become an entrepreneur who practices law, rather than just being a lawyer. More importantly, I wanted to create the life that I wanted to live, rather than live the life that fit my job.
I stopped writing because I was reflecting on the type of life that I wanted to live. Some great friends and colleagues helped me tremendously. Multiple people told me to read the book, The EOS Life, and that’s exactly what I wanted.
The EOS Life:
Doing what you love
With people you love
Making a huge difference
Being compensated appropriately
With time for other passions
Even though I had to serve others in my law practice, I had to prevent my role from expanding and taking over the rest of my life. I had to change how I was operating. I started to ask the important questions.
First, what do I love to do?
Second, who do I want to work with?
Third, what is my purpose? Who can I help?
Fourth, what do I need to live comfortably and how do I create wealth through my new structure?
Fifth, what are my other passions that need to survive and grow in my life?
I had to answer all of those questions as part of my transition. I’m still creating the life that I want, but if I don’t change how I operate, then I’ll never escape the trend that led me to the plateau.
Why I’m Writing Now
I am a storyteller. It’s one of the roles I was born to fill. And I don’t just like to write. I have to write, or I’ll break. If I don’t write and create, I know I’ll regret it on my deathbed.
That’s why I’m writing now. Writing, for me, is sharing what I love with others — whether it’s a children’s book, a great story, a reflection, or even legal strategy. I stopped writing because I had to focus on myself. But that also meant that I stopped sharing what I love.
Even though I hit a plateau in my professional life, it was a plateau of results and not necessarily one of growth. I was still writing for myself. I was still moving forward in other areas. I was preparing for the next climb. And now I have even more to share.
And the original reasons why I started writing, which you can find here, all still apply.
But my paradigm has changed. I’m aiming to live my priorities now — and then build the life that protects those priorities. I’m following Richie Norton’s advice:
“Build the castle, then the moat.”
The castle is the life I want to live. The moat is what protects that life. I’m no longer trying to get to some distant future with the exact life I want. I’m creating the world I want to live in right now. I’m aiming for the EOS Life. I’m actively building the life that excites me.
And I’m excited to share my favorite stories with you… like one of my children’s books.
Learn the one lesson that has changed my life more than any other.