Current Project: Edits to CHASING RAINBOWS
Status: Getting there!
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. His words, "I have a dream," seem especially appropriate to me this year. Of course we've just passed New Year's Day, the traditional time of making resolutions--which I'm still working on. Maybe I'm lagging behind on setting resolutions because I needed a broader framework for these resolutions.
That broader framework came in the form of an e-mail newsletter I received recently. That newsletter suggested broadening one-year resolutions to TEN-YEAR BIG DREAMS.
Ten years seems like a long time in the future. The year 2020 will be just around the corner. My grandchildren will be young adults. My sons will be entering their 40s, and I will be--a decade older than I am now. :)
So what do I want to be doing? What do I want to have accomplished in ten years?
Dream and dream and dream, the newsletter said. So I have been. Some things came easily: for me and my family to be healthy and happy. Yes, these fit with my annual resolutions. So for those of you who wonder if having the same resolutions every year is a good thing, the answer is yes! I'm still putting my big dreams on easel paper--big paper is good for big dreams. :)
The writer of the newsletter also went on to suggest a way to meet those Ten-Year Big Dreams. Start ten years in the future and back up a year at a time (2019, 2018, 2017, etc.), figuring what you need to accomplish each year to reach your Big Dreams. Yes, I've also heard this strategy, but this year it really resonated with me.
Right now, I'm focusing on getting projects accomplished. But that easel pad of ten-year big dreams beckons. As those big dreams take shape, they give me a destination as well as a way to set priorities and measure progress.
Have you ever set goals ten years in the future? Do you wonder what your life will be like in another decade?
(For my next blog in two weeks, I'll give goal-setting a rest. But perhaps I can come up with some fascinating facts about ground hogs, since Their Day will be nearly upon us. :)
12 comments:
Genene -- interesting how an idea can circle us for a long time and finally land, resonate as you said, where before it just floated.
I've not dreamed more than a year in the future since I was 42. More of a take one day at a time type of person, but I can see the appeal, not only for family, but for writing. It could help you make choices that advance you to where you want to go. I can see that it could also mess with your choices. Me on a fence, imagine.
I like the big paper/big idea approach. Bravo!
LOL about the groundhogs, Genene.
I'm not a 'list it out' goal maker, so making lists for a year is hard enough, let alone listing them out ten years in the future. I do have goals in my head - things I want to accomplish by a certain time, but so much of those goals (in this business) are really driven by outside factors, so it's very hard for me to focus on them too much. My attitude has always been, "I'll work hard, do everything I can to get where I want to be, then let the chips fall where they may." At the end of the day, all I can do is my best.
That said, I DO believe in the power of positive thinking. And I believe if you want something enough, you will work harder to get there and eventually reach your goals. I started writing when I turned 30. My goal was to sell by the time I turned 35. I couldn't control what editors wanted to buy or where the market was going, I could only write the best book I could and put it out there to be read. The end result? I sold my first book 3 mo. after my 35th bday.
I'm a day by day kind of person. To think ten years ahead, I'd have to look back ten years and see where I was- and my gosh! If I can attain in the next ten years what I did the past, I will be right where every author dreams to be!
It was a little over ten years ago I joined RWA, I also had started a new career as a 4-H program assistant. Joining RWA gave me connections in the writing world, honed my skills, enhanced my talent, and eventually brought me to the place where I'm published. My 4-H job taught me how to do publicity, speak in front of groups, and to always push a little harder.
So the big dream/picture for me in 2020- to be either a RITA winner or have made a top ten list with one or more books. And to be helping others attain their goals.
Interesting blog, Genene!
Hey, Alice! Have I mentioned before that I really like getting your perspective because it always makes me think? I hadn't thought about planning ten years ahead as messing with choices.
Guess I see ten-year planning like a synopsis for a story. It gives general guidelines and a golden destination, but if an interesting side trip opens up, follow it!
However, for someone who really focuses on goals--and I'm obviously not one of those people--it could exclude some opportunities.
Well, Eli, while Punxsutawney Phil fans are counting down the seconds to Grounds Hog Day (I kid you not--there is a counter on their official Web site), gardeners are plotting ways to eliminate this timid rodent. Celebrated and scorned. Ah, such is the life of a celebrity!
Oops, back to today's blog! Positive thinking is a wonderful tool, isn't it? That's very cool about selling by your 35th birthday!
You also seem very focused to me. And though I'm getting to that point, I also tend to bounce from project to project and am soooo tempted when something new and interesting waves temptation in front of my face. Maybe that's why I do better with a written list of goals. It's a reminder not to get distracted too many times. I admire your ability to set goals in your head and move steadily toward them!
No, I don't think 10 years ahead as far as dreams go. One year of goals is hard enough! I also believe in the power of positive thinking. There's a book on my amazon.com wish list called: Write It Down, Make It Happen.
Okay, I've gotta go take my ADHD puppy on a walk before I tear my hair out. Why can't we just bypass this puppy stage and go straight to calm, well-behaved dog? WHY?
Okay, that's my dream. That Kinsey will be a well-behaved adult dog... soon.
Paty, you have accomplished so much in the last ten years!
As with Eli, I'm impressed by the way you focus on what you want and go! It's very motivating to see you both reaching your goals. Count on me being in the crowd cheering for you when you hit the bestseller lists AND walk up on stage to claim that RITA!
How exciting that will be!
LOL about your puppy, Karen!
That's why I prefer adult dogs to puppies. You skip all that potty-training, chewing stage. Though I acquired several at the teenage stage, as well as the aging stage, so maybe I shouldn't be so smug.
Ah, well, their kisses and cuddles make it all worthwhile!
A book called Write It Down, Make It Happen, huh? Do you have to remember where you stashed your lists to make it happen or just write it down? I know it's in one of these piles somewhere...
I am getting much better, though. About a week and a half ago, I took boxes and boxes and boxes of old papers to the recycling station. So I'm down to current projects and papers I need to keep. Check another goal off my sheet!
I can't think 10 years in the future, because if I do that, Tavy will be 11 and a tween, and oh, I need chocolate just thinking about it. Nope. Can't think about it. Not gonna happen.
Seriously though, I used to have a 1 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr plan, and that really created a lot of stress for me when things didn't happen for me or when life changed my goals for me. I can certainly see the appeal of a 10 year plan, and I'm tempted to do a new one, but I think for right now, I need to find a happy medium between planning and living in the moment.
Ah, Wavy, you must be a very focused person also! But it's definitely unnerving to flash forward ten years in your child's life. Just when you are enjoying the toddler stage, you think of them as a teen or tween-ager. Egad!
I think it was John Lennon who wrote, "Life is what happens while we're making other plans." My whole life has been that way in spite of my efforts to reach my goals. I'm definitely in the one-day-at-a-time category these days, too. But it did help to set a goal to type 50,000 words in 30 days for NaNoWriMo. I'm even contemplating doing it again in February or March. Anyone else?
Bravo, Barbara, for being so inspired by your success with NaNoWriMo!
What you said about life happening while we're making other plans is interesting. I often feel that way day to day. However, if I go back and look at goals I've written down, I've accomplished quite a few of them. The subconscious at work perhaps? At least written goals give me something to come back to after the crisis passes. :)
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