For most of the past 20 years, I have thought of myself first and foremost as a podcaster when it comes to content creation.

Recently, I was working on a project that caused me to go back through hundreds of blog posts I wrote between 2004 and 2014. I converted the entire archive into HTML, Markdown and even an EPUB that I can now read on my Kindle.

As I started looking through all of that old writing, I realized something I had almost forgotten.

Before I was a podcaster, I was a writer.

In fact, before I recorded my first podcast episode in December 2005, I had already spent years writing online. At one point, I was even working toward becoming a published author.

Podcasting changed everything for me because it allowed me to communicate ideas in a fraction of the time it took me to write and polish a long-form article. Eventually, audio became my primary creative medium and I mostly left long-form writing behind.

Today, the economics of writing have changed for me.

With the tools I now have available, especially the way I use ChatGPT as part of my creative process, I can take an idea that might once have required six or eight hours of writing and editing and turn it into something I'm proud to publish in one or two hours.

At the same time, I recognize that my written content currently has the potential to reach significantly more people through my email list, LinkedIn, Facebook and Substack than I'm reaching through my audio podcasts alone.

All of this contributed to my recent decision to step away from my commitment to producing The Cliff Ravenscraft Show and Podcast Answer Man every single week.

I'm returning to what I call "inspired content only."

My commitment is simple. There will be at least one new episode of each show every calendar month. Beyond that, I may publish two episodes, five episodes or considerably more whenever there is something I genuinely feel inspired to share.

In this episode, I talk through that decision, my rediscovery of myself as a writer, my thoughts about written, audio and video content, and why I'm becoming much more intentional about where I invest my creative energy.

I also share a few things happening in my world right now, including my upcoming trip to VidSummit, some of what I've been doing with ChatGPT automations, and a story about how a cracked PLAUD Note Pro turned into three brand new devices.

That final story became an example of something I think about constantly in my own life and in my coaching. When I encounter an undesirable circumstance, eventually I want to get beyond my reaction to the problem and ask a different question.

What is my desired outcome?

Once I know that, I can start looking for the options that might move me toward it.

• Next Level Mastermind: Momentum: https://www.cliffravenscraft.com/momentum
• Substack: https://cliffravenscraft.substack.com

• LinkedIn Newsletter: The Entrepreneur’s Journey : https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-entrepreneur’s-journey-7275950143143604225
• PLAUD Note Pro Affiliate Link: http://plaudus.sjv.io/en2jd6

Affiliate disclosure: If you purchase a PLAUD product through my affiliate link, I may receive a commission.

Stephanie and I are celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary.

Thirty years.

As we thought about how we wanted to mark this milestone, I had the idea of sitting down together with 30 questions designed to help us reflect on the life we have built, the challenges we have navigated, the ways we have changed, and what we have learned about love and partnership along the way.

Neither of us reviewed the questions ahead of time.

That turned out to be part of what made this conversation so meaningful.

Some questions immediately opened the door to stories we had not talked about in years. Some caused us to see our past differently. A few contained assumptions we completely rejected, which led to conversations that were probably more revealing than the questions themselves.

We talked about the two young people who got married 30 years ago and what they understood, and misunderstood, about love.

We reflected on the financial struggles of our early years, including digging through our change jar to buy gasoline with pennies.

We talked about becoming parents, the mistakes we made, the parenting philosophies we eventually rejected, and our realization that we were not simply raising children. We were raising adults.

We revisited the season when I left the insurance business and we went all in on building our own business, including the enormous financial and emotional pressure that decision created.

We talked about how our beliefs have changed, how our understanding of marriage has changed, and how we have learned to give each other the freedom to continue becoming who we are.

One of the themes that emerged throughout the conversation is that neither of us needs the other to remain the person we used to be.

Stephanie is not simply my wife. I am not simply her husband.

Neither of us completes the other because neither of us is incomplete.

Instead, we have created a relationship where we can continue growing, changing, exploring, and becoming while choosing to walk through life together.

There is one phrase from this conversation that may stay with me more than anything else.

Recently, while Stephanie and I were navigating a particularly difficult and emotionally charged situation, I asked her, “Are we good?”

Her response was:

“We’re never not good.”

That phrase captures something about our marriage that I had never been able to articulate quite that way before.

Circumstances change.

Money changes.

Health changes.

Children grow up.

Beliefs evolve.

Careers shift.

Life brings things we could never predict.

But our relationship is not built on those surface-level circumstances.

As we approached the final question, we were asked to imagine sitting together on our 60th wedding anniversary and looking back on the next 30 years. What would need to happen for us to consider that second half of our life extraordinary?

My answer ultimately became very simple.

I have no idea what the next 30 years will bring.

But if I have the opportunity to partner with Stephanie through all of it, that will be extraordinary.

This episode is a special crossover episode of Building a Life and Business Together, The Cliff Ravenscraft Show, and Thriving Mosaic.

I hope our conversation encourages you to think about the relationships, choices, changes, and experiences that are shaping your own life.

And perhaps it will even inspire you to sit down with someone you love and ask a few questions of your own.

Last weekend, I did something I had never done before.

I drove a 15-foot U-Haul more than 1,000 miles from Northern Kentucky to Fort Worth, Texas, while pulling my daughter’s 2015 Toyota Corolla on a tow dolly.

For weeks leading up to the trip, my mind was rehearsing everything that could possibly go wrong.

What if I had to back up?

Would I be able to navigate gas stations?

Where would I park overnight?

Could I make it through narrow construction lanes?

What would it feel like driving with 18-wheelers on either side of me?

I did what I could to prepare. I watched videos, asked questions, learned how to secure the car, and got advice from someone who had done it before.

But there were some things I simply could not learn ahead of time.

I had to get behind the wheel.

At my first fuel stop, my nervous system was in overdrive. I asked my wife and daughter not to talk while I figured out how to maneuver this entire setup through the gas station.

And then I did it.

Nothing terrible happened.

The second fuel stop was easier.

By the fourth or fifth stop, my attitude had completely changed. What had felt overwhelming only hours earlier was becoming normal.

Eventually, I was driving at highway speeds with an 18-wheeler on my left and another on my right, and it felt like no big deal.

The U-Haul had not gotten smaller.

The tow dolly had not gotten narrower.

The Corolla was still hanging off the back.

The roads had not changed.

I had changed.

I now had experience.

My mind had wanted confidence before I had the experience, but it was the experience itself that created the confidence.

Every mile gave me evidence.

Every fuel stop gave me evidence.

Every narrow lane and every turn gave me evidence.

And even when something actually did go wrong and we had to replace the tow dolly along the way, I discovered that I could handle that too.

This experience reminded me of something that applies to so many areas of life and business.

Sometimes we are mentally rehearsing something over and over, waiting until we feel confident enough to begin.

But maybe confidence is not what we need first.

Maybe we need to get behind the wheel, pull out of the driveway, and allow experience to give us the evidence that thinking never can.

What are you mentally rehearsing right now?

What are you waiting to feel confident about before you begin?

I’d love to hear what it is for you. Email me at cliff@cliffravenscraft.com.