Top 5 Epic Fails of 2021

It’s long but worth it! Top 5 Epic Fails of 2021 as a writer

If you are reading this, congratulations you have unlocked a new achievement! You are now in level 12 of the twisted real life version of Jumanji.

I’m sure majority of you can agree that 2021 has definitely been one for the books. It seems like we are in a never ending series. Deaths, losses, & stress. It seems almost as if we have lost and failed ALL year….AGAIN!

Soooo, with that being said, let’s keep that same energy & keep the failure momentum going.

Just kidding, stop here. Unclench your teeth. Relax your shoulders. Stop shaking your leg. Inhale. Exhale. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Breathe.

Ok, now that you have sort of, kind of, maybe tried to relax. Let’s continue…

2021 is the year we spent most of the year masked, quarantined, & fought of vaccination status.😷 (*clearing my throat here*). This year relentlessly revealed the cracks in my habits & unapologetically exposed me as a writer.

Recap of my top 5 fails:

1. Poor time managements

Out of 24 hours in the day, I may have squeezed in about 30 minutes to an hour to nurture my business. Honestly, what relationship do you know that can effectively grow & continue to successfully sustain from that little amount of time? How many times have you been in a relationship & heard, “you don’t ever have time for me?” Well, that little voice would be my business talking to me.

Confession time: I was presented with multiple opportunities to invest time & money into myself & my writing. Rather than write, research topics, or evolve my brand, I napped. I snacked. I spent countless hours on TikTok (don’t judge me). I binged watched Criminal Minds on Netflix. I was “busy,” but doing nothing except wasting valuable hours that I could have been writing.

Needless to say, time was not of the essence for me, which resulted in me remaining stagnant for longer than I wanted to.

Time was slipping away. The hours became days, days became weeks, weeks became months, and suddenly it’s December and the whole year is gone. I can’t believe I let time slip away.

After all, time is an illusion right? WRONG! Time is valuable, make it count! These are moments you can NEVER get back.

Ironically enough, I published a podcast episode titled, “New me, who dis?” with a list of ways to make the best use of your time during quarantine (turns out that I ended up doing the exact opposite).

I knew exactly how to fix my poor time management. All I had to do was prioritize and set deadlines — which leads me into my 2nd 2021 epic fail…

2. Dismissing deadlines

I would always make a point to buy a planner in the beginning of every year. This year was no different. When I first bought the planner, I organized my busy life as a writer. I mean, highlighters & sticky notes galore. I had different color pens to signify different types of projects, a color map, and key layout at the top of the planner. I meant business! Then, I noticed that the colors in the planner slowly began decreasing. The sticky notes were fewer. The “to do” task list was short. I wasn’t writing reminders to myself, & dates passed with so much of a blur that I couldn’t keep the days of the week straight. I promised myself I would research information & get back to writing. Months later, there was still no post published or draft written. There was no excuse. This was just poor business.

This was when I realized I needed to set deadlines. The thing about setting deadlines is that in order for them to be effective, they must be realistic & attainable. I failed miserably at this also.

I’m a procrastinator by nature. Mama didn’t raise no fool , she raised a procrastinator. So in addition to deadlines, I needed to set reminders. If I don’t have deadlines, I’m not going to do it. That’s plain & simple.

Here’s where I failed.

I set deadlines, BUT because it was MY business, I dismissed them, postponed them, cancelled them, and rescheduled them until “I felt like it.” I was starting to use the word “eventually” a lot more than I needed to. This attitude set me up for failure most of the 2021 year.

A light bulb hit me, & it dawned on me that while working as an employee, I don’t get the opportunity to dismiss deadlines.

Furthermore, I worked extra hard to make sure I completed the tasks before the deadline even arrived. This is the same work ethic, attitude, & investment I realized I needed to place into my own business.

Deadlines are meant to keep you focused. They hold you accountable. They make you responsible. They provide structure to a hectic and busy life or schedule.

Deadlines may also add pressure and make you fee rushed. This is why deadlines should be attainable, evenly distributed to prevent you from being overwhelmed. Maybe next year…

Deadlines made me feel like I was watching the shot clock. But….Life is not a race! Right?Sike! That is complete BS! Everything about life is a race. As adults, we constantly have to race the clock: alarm clock, time clock, biological clock, etc. We race against age because at certain ages our biological clocks start ticking. We race against traffic. We even race for parking spots lol. Life comes with all kinds of races: political races, ethnic races, relationship status races, educational races, etc. There’s always something to do or somewhere to be by a certain time.

The great part about the race of life is this: it’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a slow & steady race, but we have a way of adding extra stress & overloading ourselves without any structure or boundaries.

This brings me to my next failure…

3. I never said no

I constantly overloaded myself with projects, tasks, and “to do’s” that I could’ve easily delegated or avoided all together.

I had a problem saying no. Maybe, it was due in part to the pandemic, and it increased my empathy & sympathy. I don’t know, but whatever it was, the results were the same. I overextended myself to the point of exhaustion. Emails were sent with bare minimum details. Projects were done half-heartedly just for the sake of saying they were completed.

I was pouring from an empty cup and expecting the quality to be the same as a full cup. I learned rather quickly, “you cannot pour from an empty cup.” It’s okay to say no, respectfully. It’s okay to be unavailable. It’s okay to take a mental break. It’s okay to refer to another business if your schedule is overwhelming.

Saying yes so often quickly brought my next epic fail to my attention…

4. One man band

I cannot do it all by myself. I have a huge fear of revealing my thoughts, ideas, and upcoming projects with others due to some fraudulent “friends” in the past snatching my ideas & passing them off as their own. This caused some self diagnosed form of PTSD in my business mind. People are a trip to say the least, and you really see their true colors once you become a writer or content creator. The cut throat & back stabbing made me selfish to the point that I didn’t share anything with anyone until after it was over & the move had been made.

The problem with this approach is when building a business; you have to be open to building a team. Moreover, you have to trust people. This was my biggest barrier. You have to trust them with your ideas, your business, your reputation, your personal life, and your brand. In short, you have to build a family.

Take Chadwick Boseman for example. He was a part of a team that he could trust with him life, even until death. This is the type of team business owners need. Kicking it old school here but, there is no I in team.

After overextending myself, I realized that I am not octomom with 8 arms, & I had to come to the reality that there was no possible way that I could successfully run a business single handedly. I had to have a circle of friends to assist me in making my dreams become a reality.

I had consumed myself with scheduling appointments, writing projects, conducting interviews, writing books, working full time, marketing, branding, and standing frontlines as an “essential worker” during the pandemic. I was becoming burnt out when the simplest answer was always available –ASK FOR HELP.

Knowing when to ask for help is vital to my growth.

My 5th & final epic fail was this…

5. Stop & go

Along with my other business characteristic flaws, being inconsistent is another one. I have a bad case of stop & go. I would have sporadic bursts of energy where I felt like Superwoman and could whirl through my writing without so much of a blink; followed by days or weeks of no umph or enthusiasm at all.

For weeks I would plow through projects without breaking a sweat & then not have the desire to want to do anything else until the burst of energy was back.

The inconsistency led to a roller coaster of peaks & valleys in my stats. My charts & reports were confusing to look at because of the audience inconsistencies, but who could I blame? My audience responded to me. They arrived when I arrived, & when I abandoned my writing, they did too.

As a writer, consistency is key. The commitment to service readers consistently must outweigh the lack of enthusiasm. Consistency is a what drives views, analytics, insights, & traffic to your .

Trust me, I know how hectic life can be, & there are times that consistency just isn’t possible. If this occurs, inform your supporters so they are aware. My other mistake was inconsistency without informing. People are more willing to support what they understand. I learned quickly that inconsistency can come across as unprofessional. Stay strong! If you need a mental break, let your people know so there will be no gray area or misconception that you are wishy washy.

Ok, this concludes my therapy session 😁

Let’s recap what I learned:

1. Manage time wisely.

2. Set attainable deadlines.

3. No is not a bad word.

4. Ask for help.

5. Keep going!

Maybe, you can identify some of the same mistakes now while there is just enough time left in this year to create a strategy and revised approach for the 2021 business year.

As you can see, 2021 showed me my flaws. I embraced them whole heartedly & have already started developing a strategy to keep me from making the same mistakes in the next year.

After reading this post, I hope you are doing the same!