What Else Do You Want?

I was sitting down to record episode 9 of my podcast, I Was Just Thinking, when a big truck pulled up in front of my house and started unloading a pile of things. They aren’t my things, but the noise carried so I decided to postpone recording and write a blog instead. It’s been a minute since I’ve written a blog on this platform. I’ll be honest: I’ve been eye balls deep in re-imagining my business into something brand new. I’ve been asking myself, “what else do you want?” and it’s been a lot of fun, and a lot of work, and I’ve given myself permission to step away from this platform as needed to focus on rebuilding elsewhere.

That said, I do intend to keep this platform up and running. The whole point of creating it was so that it would have legacy and whether or not it ever became more than somewhere to write, I would keep it. Funny enough, the traffic to the site has continued to increase. It’s doing what I wanted it to do: reach people.

New Day, New Decisions

I have decided, however, that once I reach episode 10 of the I Was Just Thinking Podcast, I’ll be leaving it at that. I’m already working on a new podcast for Deveaux Learning Solutions, my newly re-branded business. The Learning Solutions Podcast will be dropping in early 2026 and I’ll have several episodes lock in and ready to go for the launch. Not that there will be much fanfare around it: I tend to do things behind the scenes and then just put them on the internet, but maybe there should be.

I’m excited about re-launching my business in the new year and have been building out a new offer, as well as something I’ve been thinking about doing for years: offering a certification. With 25 years of experience in adult education, instructional design, curriculum development, systems thinking, quality assurance, facilitation, and business, it’s probably about time to really double down on what I know and share it with people in a way that goes beyond a few weeks in a Zoom room. So I’m cooking that behind the scenes right now.

Truck update: they were delivering furniture to the neighbor. It’s a brown, leather couch. I don’t like it. I would have gone with a lighter tone, to be sure. But good for them.

Talking it Out

I’ve been having a lot of conversations with people about the re-launch of my business and those conversations have helped me further refine my understanding and meaning making related to this experience. I feel ready to get back to work. And that’s a new one for me. I’ve entered my seventh month of this creative sabbatical and I can tell you that the experience has changed me in a way that I didn’t expect: it made me want to go deeper in my expertise instead of adding more things to learn or perfect from scratch.

I thought, for what it’s worth, that I would end up doing something entirely different, and in a way, I am. I am looking at my business from an entirely different perspective and appreciating it more than I ever have.

For starters, the fact that I built a business that allowed me to take this time off is amazing. Most small business owners can’t swing a weekend away from their laptops or service delivery and I carved out an entire year. I’ll be getting back to business before the year is up, but I decided to do that when I realized I could slow roll this new launch and bank roll it at the same time.

Instead of waiting until my savings is gone to get back to work, I can start to slowly re-incorporate work into my life and have the funds to support the transition period. Again, I’m very thankful to my past self for having the wherewithal to decide to use my savings in this way, for no other reason than it has given me endless choices. And the evolution of my choices is evident in the decision to return to business building after the new year.

Go Big? Go Home?

Second, I’m so excited about this new iteration of my business that I find I have to stop myself from showing up and talking about it. To be sure, I’ll talk to anyone that will listen, but I’m taking that as a sign that I’ve made the right choice to double down instead of going back to the drawing board. This creative sabbatical has created space for me to rediscover my love of learning and creating opportunities.

It has helped me further understand the impact I can make through entrepreneurship and new offers and services are the result of that. I have always joked about “going big” like I know how to “go small” but this time is different. There are “big” things coming. Huge. Scary huge. Both personally and professionally and I’m here for it.

And finally, the conversations I’ve been having with friends, colleagues and even former clients have resulted in a confirmation that I’m right where I need to be. There’s a reason I’ve been in business so long and will continue to be in business now that I’ve had a chance to step back and evaluate my priorities in relation to work. I started this creative sabbatical saying I was just taking a break to explore my creative interests and I did. And I have. I still am. What I’ve learned from this time is that I don’t need to do business or creative things in a silo. I can do both, in various aspects of my life, without one hindering the other.

Going Deeper

There’s a lot we can learn about ourselves when we take the time to look. For instance, something I’ve learned recently is that I have a love-hate relationship with goals. Well, that part I already knew. But recently, I realized why I haven’t bothered setting goals in years. It’s been actual years since I’ve said, “this year I want to…”; hell, even this sabbatical was pretty spontaneous. I tend to go where my intuition takes me and I rarely say out loud the things I actually want. I usually just spout on about things I don’t want.

This is true in how I set goals: I don’t speak truth to something I want to make reality. Instead, I rhyme off all the reasons I don’t need to go after that goal. I focus on the trying and not the achieving sometimes, given plenty of permission for failure to materialize, just in case. But now that I’ve had time to sit and think and try on the “What if” of it all, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably time to start setting goals again.

Goals? Is That the Next Thing?

Setting goals has gotten me far in life, but I think along the way, I got burned out always thinking about the next thing. And if I can take anything away from this creative sabbatical so far, it’s that I really did need this time to re-orient myself to myself. I’ve been busy rebuilding my life and giving my attention to other people and their needs for a while now and while I’ve done lots for myself, I’ve never had an opportunity to really focus on just me. That’s what’s happening right now.

I can see a path forward for my goals. It’s like I finally have permission to go after them, as scary as they are. Sure, I could have given myself permission long ago, but I didn’t. At this point, it seems as good a time as any to step into what I want and go for it.

My Goals Aren’t Your Goals

And yeah, I’m being vague. My goals aren’t your goals. And I think that’s part of the problem of goal setting: we often look to what other people are doing as a sign that we should do the same. I’ve never lived my life like that and it shows in how I’ve stepped away from setting goals. I have always gone my own way when it came to business building, choosing the things I want in life, and even how I spend my time. But there is something enticing about setting a goal right now that lights me up. It’s been a while, let me tell you.

So I’m going to follow that intuition too. So yeah, I’m not saying my goals out loud for the world to hear because it won’t change how you set your own goals. And, honestly, I just want this goal to be mine for a while. I want to enjoy it and think about it and act on it from a place of knowing I’m doing it for me, not because I told a bunch of people on the internet I was going to do it. That should never be a reason to do anything.

What else do you want?

What I do want to do though, is encourage you to look at your own life and ask the question, “Is there anything else I want?” I love a good, “what do I want?” question, but the subtle add of “anything else” creates space for opportunity you might not have seen. It’s a play on, “If I could be or do anything, what would it be?” and it gives you one stepping stone to move forward. It sets the bar in a different place, really, and isn’t that what this creative sabbatical has been all about? Moving the bar to new heights?

Well, I’ve reached new heights because I dared to ask “what else is there?” And I’m not just returning to work in the new year, I’m building something entirely different that will also reach new heights.

And I kind of can’t wait…

If you want to do some self-reflection and dig into some of your ideas, thoughts and goals, check out my 5-day email challenges. I’ll send you an email a day for 5 days to get you thinking about things from a different perspective. Try one on and see if it fits. You never know where it might lead.