time management

Goal, No, Make that GLEE SETTING

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It’s that time of the year again. Time to make goals. *sigh*

goal-setting-101

I’m talking about setting life goals, the things you want to do in the next year, five years, ten years, whatever. Resolutions. *Oy!*

If you Google “goal setting,” you’ll get 62,500,000 hits in .21 seconds. That’s sixty two MILLION places to read about some part of goal setting, and getting there in less than a second. W-H-O-A!

There are all kinds of helps out there–videos you can listen to, songs you can tap your toe to, and tons (!) of suggestions, helps, templates, and rules for setting goals.

So what do I have to say on the subject that someone else hasn’t said over and over again?

Absolutely nothin’! (Say it again.)

Yep, nothin’. The truth is, I’ve found that setting rigid goals isn’t right for me. If I get too specific about them (write 3,000 words a day, 200 by 6:00 am, another 200 by 8:00 am, etc) I’ll go on strike.

I don’t mean my brain will quit and start picketing or anything. What happens is my stomach hurts when I think about whatever it is that goal is set about, so I don’t think about it. (Yep, I’m weird. Don’t let anybody tell you different.)

I’ve learned over the years not to get too controlling with my goals. (One year I called them suggestions, but it didn’t help much.)

Trouble is, if you don’t set goals, you’ll never know when you reached them. What’s a person to do?

reach-for-a-star

Well, how about making them fun? For instance, I really enjoy Greer Garson movies. (I told my husband once that if we had a baby girl, I’d name her Greer. I think he was glad we were past the baby making time in our lives.)

 

In fact, I’ve never seen her in a movie I didn’t like. Why  not set a goal to see every movie Greer Garson ever made? I might do that, but it’s not really going to do me a lot of good to achieve that goal since I’m not a movie critic or film maker.

I might just keep that goal, but only because it’s FUN. Something I want to do because I want to do it. What’s that got to making goals that’ll work for me?

If my goal is something I think is fun, something I love doing or something I’m passionate about, then I’m absolutely going to keep it.

I could make a goal that says, “Grind out three (hard-to-write as well as boring for me) books this year” or words that’ll make me feel that. If I do, I can pretty much guarantee you, I won’t reach it.

But if my goal says, “Write three fun books involving engaging, delightful characters I love spending time with as well as plots that keep me humming from the start to the very end,” I might just do it. 🙂

So for me, attainable goals are ones I enjoy. I might even write something about what Heaven on earth would look like for me. “Wake up each morning with a smile, overjoyed to get back to the story bubbling inside me, anxious to spend fun time with my Savior, my family and my friends, and dance off to work each day where I accomplish meaningful, enjoyable tasks and earn a fair wage–not necessarily in that order.”

My goals would come from that. But I probably won’t call them goals. I’ll be more likely to get where I want to go if I call them something else like, GAMES, PLAYTIME, JOY or GLEE.

This year, instead of making a list 1, 2, 3 . . .  I could print out the words in large pretty letters and pin them, helter-skelter, on my corkboard.

Some of the fun things I want to do this year? Take a photography class. Start the Christian House series sitting in my brain. Find a fun and painless way to write a synopsis. (Is there any such thing? If so, please LET ME KNOW!) Be a beach peach for a week.

What fun things do you imagine doing this next year?

Are you a strict, list making goal setter or a lazy  laid-back free spirit glee setter?

Just asking.

 

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A List Life

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I’m stuck for something to write about today, which is a surprise for me since it doesn’t happen often. I blogged only once this week at  Small Town World , where I normally blog three times without fail. 😦

Why the problem? I’m consumed with a new project. I’m not sure if anyone else’s brain works like mine, but when I have a new exciting-for-me project, it’s all I think about. Where my characters are going next. How I’m going to take it there. How the writer I-wanna-be-when-I-grow-up would structure the project, and can I make that work for me?

I forget to go to the grocery store. I don’t notice when it’s time to go to work. I can’t get to my Small World to say hi. (Hi!!!)

It causes a little snarl in relationships, too. Someone talks to me, but I’m rereading the last few lines I’ve written, and I don’t hear what was said until the last words. For some reason, that someone gets a little irritated the third time I ask him to repeat. (Go figure.)

I’m watching TV with my man, he comments on what’s just been said and I have to find the rewind button because somehow my laptop is in front of me and I’m seeing Colorado, not the news. Or the weather. Or the movie I wanted to see.

Or I’m at work with something vital on my desk, and instead of hammering the thing out, I’m plotting in my mind.

Cousin: “Do you have a total on the open invoices you’re sending out today?”

Me: Gasp. “Am I paying bills today?”

In order to continue to live a semi-normal life while I’m in this mode, I have to resort to things like making lists. Getting people to call me when it’s time to get ready for work. And making lists.

I even use the list AP on my phone. Added a couple, too. 🙂 Now I’m either going to have to put an alarm clock where I write or learn to use the alarm on my phone with a really discordant tone.

So . . . can anyone help me? When you get over-powered by a project, and you’re loving it, how do you make things work in your real life?

If you’ll share with me, I’ll make a list. And I’ll try to remember where it is. 🙂

 

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