I’m “on the beach.”  In the elite world of management consulting, that means that I’m not staffed on a project.  To most people, this sounds like paradise.  I am getting paid to sit at home and watch television.

But it’s not as great as it sounds.  After a couple of days of relaxing, I start to get really antsy.  My personality is built for obsession, and when work goes away, I usually turn inward and obsess about myself.

So what do I do?  I spin my wheels.  When I’m feeling positive, this leads to an outpouring on Herbietown, or a burst of errands.

When I’m feeling negative, this spinning turns self-destructive.  I read blogs like this and this and wonder how I turned into a suit.  I read every word of business news on the Internet, and then get depressed because I’m so unfocused.  I experience extreme schadenfraude whenever I hear about anyone else’s success.  And I build unwieldy personal budgets in Microsoft Excel.

Today, I sketched out a chart to help me think about how to become a full-time blogger.  I’d need to generate enough income to pay my student loans and support my lavish lifestyle, all while saving for Jack’s education and our retirement.  Here’s the chart:

In short: I need to write something I know that will attract a core audience.  My latest great idea is to write a humorous blog about the challenges of being a manly father.  There aren’t too many great blogs about parenting, and there is a huge opportunity to attract attention by breaking deep-seated taboos in our culture.  I can write posts about the emotional challenges of raising a child and supporting a family, and of course it would be sprinkled with irreverent sarcasm and cynicism.