Current Project: A ST. PATRICK'S DAY TALEAs I'm wrapping up house projects and peeking out at the world again, I'm a different person than I was a couple months ago. Perhaps not on the outside, but on the inside. (Though a definite benefit of working on my house was the movement and emotional clearing helped shed more of the weight I gained a couple years ago.)
I'm eager to apply the lessons I learned about focusing and meeting goals to my writing. The goal-setting process wasn't anything that hasn't been around for years: set a specific goal; set a deadline; break the goal down into small, manageable chunks; do the work.
Sounds simple, right? For me, intensely living that process was a bit more involved. The stakes were high and very important to me. I drove myself to the brink of anxiety attacks more than once with the fear I would fail. Yet I couldn't fail!
So I took a deep breath (or two or three), tweaked the goal, adjusted the deadline, and went back to work.
Time after time I ran into unexpected delays. If you've ever remodeled a house that's about seventy years old, you've discovered that the settling and aging process means nothing is square or level or built to today's building codes. So it's a constant process of adjusting what you thought could be done quickly into creatively making the finish work cover up any imperfections.
Oh yeah, did I mention this was during the holidays when the grandkids expected at least a passing acknowledgement that it was Christmas and their birthdays? And couldn't that family crisis have waited until I wasn't in the middle of something critical?
More deep breaths, more tweaking, more deadline adjustments, and back to work!
Now that I'm in the finishing-up stages of my house remodel, I am pausing to look around. My house has never looked so good. Fresh paint, cracked tiles replaced, in some cases entire rooms stripped to the studs and redone. More than once, I've thought, "Wow!"
Is every little project done? No, I'll always think, "Wouldn't it be nice to…" However, I'm definitely ready to settle at my computer in my spiffed-up office and immerse myself in the world of my LEGACY series of stories.
The goal is set and so are the deadlines. I still need to break the goal of finishing these books down into manageable chunks, and do the work.
Yes, I expect life to intervene at times. I also expect to take time out for family and friends and promotion. But I've learned to take really deep breaths, tweak my sub-goals, and get back to work. And I'm solidly confident this series of books will reach the "Wow!" stage where I currently am with my house remodeling.
So how are you doing with your goals? We're past the middle of January. Are you still flying high on enthusiasm? Or have you had setbacks already? Had to adjust your original goals? Abandon your goals and set new ones? Or tossed out the entire goal-setting process and decided it wasn't so bad to play games on your computer for half the day…
