Giving Yourself Grace

They say in content creation the foundation of success is to be consistent. Well, “consistency” has been my biggest nemesis in reflection.

Sure, I’ve been podcasting since 2017 and blogging since 2016. While I have been consistent in creating content; where I’ve fallen short is in the consistency of my frequency.

You might remember the early days (if we were connected back then) of WhatUp Silicon Valley & Mojo Monday’s. Since then I’ve gone on to create the Soul Seekr Podcast, Clone Yourself Podcast, the food show on YouTube (Eatup Silicon Valley), and even wrote 3 books!

That’s a lot, right?

Possibly even too much?

Here’s the thing though … I enjoyed every single one of these projects and I’ve been clear since day one about my “why."

Importance of Your Intentions

My intention of all these various content creations has been out of passion. I knew from day 1 that my content creation wasn’t 100% for business purposes. I didn’t want it to ever feel like a chore. The idea of consistency made it feel like work and I wanted it to feel like fun!

Not that there’s anything wrong with hustling and creating content for work purposes. I think that’s awesome to be honest! It’s just not for me and the reason is I’m striving for “SOUL / Life Balance” rather than the outdated model of work / life balance.

SOUL / Life Balance

You may have heard me speak of this phrase in the past… to me work / life balance is an illusion we’ve been fed. We’ve been taught that “work is good” (sorry not sorry, but this was even a tagline of one of my companies prior to my “awakening”).

You see work / life balance glorifies being a weekend warrior, it guides us in dreaming about our retirement, and it helps us get through mundane stretches of arduous work by having PTO for a dream vacation.

Well, I believe there’s so much more to life than just working; and the reframe I believe in is SOUL / Life Balance in which we now start to simply see work as a component of life. 

By building in more intentional practices that feed our soul (whether you have spiritual or religious beliefs … or none at all … make time for the things that lead you to pause into a state of reflection, gratitude and aww.

So, I guess this is really just a letter (a plea) to you, my friend, to make time for yourself, to honor yourself and to speak your truth.

If any of this resonates with you and you’d like to go deeper down the rabbit hole; I’d like to invite you to a brand new YouTube video (speaking of content creation) that I made which explains the movie “SOUL” by Pixar & Disney … you can check it out here).

Final Thoughts

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out some of the amazing consistent content creators in our industry. They are worth checking out.

• Kirby Hasseman & Bill Petrie - these two are legends!

• Brandon Pecharich from PromoCorner - What an absolute stud … this dude has been creating a daily video featuring a different promotional product for years! The discipline to show up like that is unbelievable! 

In closing, whether you’re in the content game or if you’re just getting started, focus on these 3 things:

1. Get Clear on Your Intention

2. Choose a Medium that aligns with your own truth

3. Don’t give up … it’s okay to be inconsistent 

To Creating,

Sam AKA SwagSam

Sam Kabert is the creative director of SwagWorx and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@SwagWorx.com.