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[Last month's review][1]. [All monthly reviews][2].

What did I complete that I am proud of this month?

I create sketchnotes as part of [my research process][1] when working on articles for [my freelance clients][2]. See all my posts about sketchnotes [here][3].

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Finished article: [Prioritise your work using the Eisenhower matrix][4]

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[Last month's review][1]. [All monthly reviews][2].

This month's goals

I create sketchnotes as part of [my research process][1] when working on articles for [my freelance clients][2]. See all my posts about sketchnotes [here][3].

![sketchnotes 1][image-1]

![sketchnotes 2][image-2]

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I wasn't too much into blogs when they were a big deal, initially. I'm quite late to the party, I guess, but I really like the idea of everyone having their own blog, and using posts to reply to other posts, and using RSS to keep up with all your favourite bloggers. I'm fairly disillusioned with social networks, so perhaps it's how different and old-school personal blogs feel that makes me like them better.

I use RSS fairly heavily, and I really enjoy discovering new personal blogs that cover topics I'm interested in. These are a few of my favourite blogs that I recommend checking out.

I create sketchnotes as part of [my research process][1] when working on articles for [my freelance clients][2]. See all my posts about sketchnotes [here][3].

![motivation sketchnotes 1][image-1]

![motivation sketchnotes 2][image-2]

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I've had a couple of people ask on Instagram how I'm using my different Midori Traveler's Notebooks, and I promised I would write a post to explain my current setup.

I've been putting this post off because I wasn't quite set in my usage until now. I wanted to try using my passport TN as a wallet, and I wasn't sure if I would still keep notebooks in it or not. I've since tried the wallet setup, but found it was too big and too thick to use comfortably, since I carry my wallet in my back pocket, and was coming from a smaller, very slim wallet. So with that experiment over, I'm all set up again in both my TNs and can now explain my usage.

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[Last month's review][1]. [All monthly reviews][2].

This month's goals

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In January I shared the six goals I set for myself for 2016. Now that we're over halfway through the year, I thought it was good timing to revisit those goals and revise them for the rest of the year.

Here's what my 2016 goals were in January:

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Since I'm currently taking on new freelancing clients, I've been talking to various people about how I work. I have a fairly standard spiel that explains my rates, my process for working with clients, and how I handle payments. Explaining this so often made me realise it might be useful to write up a blog post that explains all this, both for the benefit of prospective clients, and for other freelancers who might find it useful.

I won't publish my actual rate here, as it's subject to change and there's every possibility I won't remember to update it in this post. I will say, though, that I work with a flat fee per article. This rate covers my time to research the article, work on outline, draft the entire piece, and edit it before sending to the client. My rate also includes one round of editing, so once the client receives my final draft they can send it back with feedback and I'll create a revised version. This is important when working with many clients, rather than as an employee, because my clients will always know their audience and their content goals better than I do.

I've been creating sketchnotes recently as part of my research process when writing new articles. These are some I created for an article on overcoming negativity at work.

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Image from [Unsplash][1]

Two years ago I wrote about the [tools I was using for writing][2]. It's about time for an update, so here's my current toolset.

Read this if: you are anxiously searching for your life purpose.

My epiphany: for most of my life I've been trying to nail down my "purpose" so that I can choose the right types of "projects" to align with my purpose. But what if that's a backwards approach? What if it's better, for some people, to choose a project FIRST — and let "completing the project" BECOME your purpose?

What did you make today, papa?

Great observation from writer-who-draws, Austin Kleon:

Last month's review. All monthly reviews.

This month's goals

This review is a bit late! I did it right at the start of July, but forgot to post it here until now.

If you need to catch up, see last month's review and the entire monthly reviews category.

I've been freelancing for most of the time since I left Buffer a couple of years ago. Freelancing comes with some unique perks that make it a good fit for me as I try to spend lots of time building Hello Code, but lately I've been noticing a lot of the downsides that make me miss working full-time as an employee.

Everyone's experience is different, but so far these are some of the best and worst parts of my experience working on content marketing as a freelancer.

Almost two years ago I put together a list of some of my favourite physical work tools. While some have stayed the same, I've added a few new favourite items to my list. Here's what I'm using and loving this year.

Leuchtturm1917 notebooks

Image credit

Every morning I practise French. I've been trying to teach myself French on and off for the last five years or so, but in the last year I've been more serious about making this a daily habit that I stick with.

A couple of weeks ago I got sick, and I didn't feel up to much more than lying in bed watching football game replays for days. My brain felt foggy and I couldn't imagine wading through even a five-minute French lesson. This is when my 132-day streak of French lessons ended.

I've been a fan of journalling in theory for a long time. But I haven't been able to put it into practice consistently.

I've tried apps like Day One, and I've tried automatically saving data about my day like where I went and what music I listened to. But none of these approaches stuck for long.