Gathering my Writing Goals– Getting Ready for the New Year
Gathering my Writing Goals – Getting Ready for the New Year!
Being a former life coach has its advantages, it means I have the tools and strategies at hand to help me plan out my writing life and get it done! This week I’m sharing how I get ready to make the best use of my time in 2016, but gently does it now, the next two weeks are a time of preparation, or as I like to call it Goal Gathering Time.
Over the next two weeks I tune in to my inner life and listen closely.
Questioning my life
I like to ask the following questions:
What do I truly want?
Am I being congruent?
Is this the life I truly want to live?
How would I like to spend my days?
How can I live out my true authentic self?
Just because I’ve set a goal at some point in the past, does not mean it is still in alignment with what I truly desire today. So I like to take this time, to check in with myself and make sure I’m headed in the right direction. It’s easy to get off track and start pursuing something that once fulfilled you and no longer does. Or maybe you come to the realization that thing you thought you wanted no longer fulfills you, but it helped reveal a deeper part of yourself and now you know more of what you desire.
Hone your desire
What do I truly desire now?
When am I most at peace, most relaxed, most excited?
When do I feel truly alive?
Am I living my passion?
How can I bring more of that into my life?
What would it look like, sound like, taste like?
What do I want my life to look like?
I close my eyes and I imagine the perfect day
What would I be doing?
What is most important to me?
Am I spending time on what I say is more important, or do I let other tasks, get in the way?
Then I start gathering ideas and goals over the coming weeks, as I reflect on that vision, of living my life on purpose.
While most people are winding down for the holidays, I like to gather ideas and goals for the new year.
What new things would I like to see in my life or what I would like to maintain? I also reflect on my life currently- what could I have done better, how am I missing the mark? I start thinking of ways that can improve. I begin three lists, I put them in my phone or journal and start adding to them in the coming weeks.
Between now and Christmas I gently start to collect thoughts and ideas for the new year. What I would like to see, or be, or continue, or bring in new?
I add these goals and ideas to the following lists:
- Add new
- Maintain
- Improve
My Writing Life
When it comes to my writing life specifically, I ask, what could I add to my life to make me a better writer?
Before getting into this, I would like to add a side note on the life wheel, this is a tool that is used in coaching to create a balanced life. I may in the coming weeks explore this a little deeper in a more holistic way, but for now suffice to say, that if the wheel is not balanced your life will feel ‘out of whack’ in some way or other. So even though I am focusing on writing, it is important to remember that writing may feel like our all, but we can’t make it our all, or in the end our writing will actually suffer, if our life is not more balanced.
It’s important for a writer to get out and live~
The following quote I think, sums up what I’m trying to say beautifully:
The Writer’s Life Wheel
Big Picture vs Little Picture
Big Picture
Contributes globally to my life, but at the same time enhances my writing, giving me more energy and inspiration to bring to my writing.
Here’s a glimpse of some things on my list:
Get on my pottery wheel and throw pots
Dance
Exercise
Spend more time hugging and playing with my kids.
Research inspirational trips, where do I want to go this year-
– Maine
– Biltmore Estate
– Castles
– Turquoise Oceans
Little Picture
Enhances my writing life directly and obviously.
What do I want to learn?
How to write a series
Deepen characters
Books I want to read
I start collecting like a little squirrel for the bigger work that comes the week after Christmas. This is when I like to plan my next year in full, for now I like to keep this stage of gathering light and have fun with it. I have done this process since I became a coach back in 2000, this will be my 15th year of gathering. I love this time of year, so exciting, so full of promise. In the coming weeks I will be collecting and hiding away ideas, for ‘goal-setting’ week, where I’ll start setting down some hard deadlines.
Please share your comments in the comment box below, along with any other ideas you would like to share, I’d love to hear from you!
What are some of the things you hope to achieve in 2016? How do you hold yourself accountable? What fun ways to do you add another layer of learning into your life? Or what areas do you know you need to improve in? I’d love to know, please share in the comments box below.
What are your goals?
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I do the same thing this time of year, reevaluate, take stock, and decide how I want to do things differently next year, what did or didn’t work this year. I have a post coming up in a couple of weeks regarding a new schedule I’m going to try out after the first of the year and see how it works for me so that I can better reach my goals, as well as be sure to enjoy myself more. Hoping to bring a little more peace into my life, in addition to crazy chaotic productiveness!!
Looks like we are on a similar track! I too want to have more fun, but at the same time be as productive as possible. I love being driven and excited about my work and having my foot on the gas to see how fast I can produce results, I just have to be careful it doesn’t consume me, so I get to enjoy all the other fun things in life. Thanks so much for sharing!
I like that pie chart showing that we writers also need to have a life and to not get so wrapped up in our writing that we lose sight of everything else. I for one tend to do just that when I’m heavy into editing. I have to remind myself to get up and walk around, play with Ollie, get out of the house (get out of my study), and live – how else are we to find things to write about.
This is so true James, the living part, it is all too easy for me to get wrapped up in the next writing task, that I forget to stop along the way and enjoy the other aspects of my life.
Thanks so much for sharing!
This is exactly what I need to hear. Writing comes first, but other demands crowd in and I get overwhelmed, rushing from one task to another, none of them getting the attention they deserve. I find myself drained of energy, joy, and satisfaction. I took notes and will follow your advice. My goal for next year is a more balanced, enjoyable life. Thank you.
Marie I hear you! I love that your goal for next year is to have a more balanced and enjoyable life, I wish you well on your quest and I hope to see you there too 🙂
Thanks so much for commenting!
Fantastic blog post! I’m still trying to find a balance and it’s hard with my husband’s increasing medical problems and our family needs. The questions you pose to yourself, especially “Questioning My Life” and “What Do I Truly Desire Now?” may seem simple and simply answered, but for those of us who have only begun to know ourselves and what we want, they are lifelines to stay focused. Thank you for posting. As always, you inspire.
Thanks for your great comments Kim! I think it’s easy to forget that these questions do become second nature, when you have been doing this for a while and they really do help keep you on track with where you want to go. Over time they become small course corrections, as opposed to huge life changing ones that they can be when we first begin pursuing our purpose and desires. I loved that you called them lifelines to staying focused, for really that is what they are.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Spot on SK – though I didn’t expect less as we are similar in this way, as well as others. Every year I spend December plotting and planning my resolutions. However, this year I am not. Why? Because I decided to just focus on one thing: being in the moment. Of course the OCD planner in me hates this, but that is precisely why I think I need it. I will write, I will read, I will do triathlons, I will practice Yoga – those are the things that will keep me sane, but my only goal (and I’m not calling it a goal) is to be present and appreciate th moment – good or bad. Not as easy as it sounds for me.
I know what you mean SC, being a planner and organizer and yes a bit OCD definitely come with it’s challenges when staying connected to the moment. This is something I like to try and practice hand in hand with my goals, for I know it’s all to easy to miss our life altogether if our eyes are always looking towards what’s next! I wish you well with your non-goal next year and hope that you are able to be present and appreciate the moment!
I want to dig out my tap shoes and start tap dancing again. I just hope my hip joints can take the pounding!
Love this post. Thanks for sharing your tips!
One thing I do at the end of the year is jot down my regrets, and turn them into goals. If I may be so bold, here’s my post on how I do that: http://squirrelsinthedoohickey.com/?p=1426
Ha Diane, I hope you dig out your tap shoes and start dancing again! I used to take tap as a child, though not by choice, so I don’t have the same inclination 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by and I love your post in turning your regrets into goals, very simple, I shall have to give it a go later!