The word for my heart pocket is Goal!
Yesterday a writer friend emailed to say that "after being overwhelmed by my book proposal for months, I set a deadline to GET IT ORGANIZED. I laid it out on my king-size bed, chapter by chapter, section by section. Then I took a notebook and began to write out the changes ...."
She set a goal. A real one. Not the kind that floats through our heads as we're driving to the grocery store and then is quickly replaced by making dinner. Not the sort that resembles a New Year's Resolution and fizzles out when your head clears. And yet, the goals that appear when we're driving or come with sudden resolve can turn into real ones. That's our part in the process, making it happen. All we have to do is the work. It is astounding how simple a concept can be muddied by every excuse in the book.
There are some key points that my friend experienced that are actually very practical tools in the process of reaching a goal. Let's take a look at what precipitated setting her goal and following through ...
"I hosted our weekly meditation session at my house."
Wow. She meditated. Quieted her busy mind and body to get to a receptive place. It is very special to make time for this, especially with people who have similar intentions of raising our collective consciousness. If that sounds "new age" to some, it isn't. It's as old as the hills. Maybe older. It simply means getting quiet and having a little time with God. Some people use prayer, some people use exercise. For some it happens when they are completely focused on cleaning house or working in the garden. When you can gather others of like mind to do this, it is very powerful.
"There were only two of us so after meditation, we had time to relax and chat about writing and philosophy."
The other person is also a writer, and I happen to know that because of extraneous circumstances, she is also experiencing difficulty clearing her mind and staying at task. Life is like that. We can set a million goals or just one and life will bombard us with what feels like urgent hardship and overwhelming business. Unless it is an emergency, all we have to do is place our goal higher on the priority list. That is, make it Number One. Doing it first. The goal comes before all else. I'm not talking about abandoning living or those we love. I'm speaking of making a list of things to do today and making your goal the most important accomplishment. If the goal will take months or years to finish, compartmentalize and make sure that the steps to the goal always take precedence. Not over an emergency. Not over life-threatening happenstance, not over being present for your child. That is an important goal, too.
These two writers relaxed. They talked about what they love. They spoke of their individual challenges. They shared.
I was so possessed with energy after our session that I made a Sunday date with my book proposal."
She was energized and inspired. She found clarity and she knew what she had to do. She set the goal of starting on Sunday. She blocked out the time, Sunday came and she began.
She then did something that is vital to movement toward any goal. It is the key to removing overwhelm and is a catalyst for progress.
She put her work in front of her so she could see it. She could focus on each section on its own. She could see how it did or did not fit together. She relieved the burden of doing this in her mind by physically laying it out. She made little goals that led to her main goal.
"There were five sections. I set my time limit to three hours. It took four. I gathered everything up and went to a friend's house. We went through it again. We made minor changes. That took another two hours. I imagined that I was sewing a beautiful quilt, carefully selecting patterns, laying them down and then taking silk thread to weave them together. Since I can't sew at all, this is entirely in my imagination. To me, writing is like this."
She made room for cognitive thinking and creativity ... and they came.
"I feel great today! I have not looked at my proposal and I will not, until I set a date with my king-size bed. It's like a dance. You choreograph the piece. Set up the players ... and watch the magic unfold. You must give it a second or third look and rearrange the structure again. So the dance continues ..."
... until is it enough. Setting a goal and meeting it is one of the most incredibly satisfying feelings in life's experience. Setting a goal and not following through when it was in our power all of the time, is one of the most frustrating and self-defeating.
Set reasonable goals.
Prioritize.
Don't quit until your goal is met.
Frustrated? Examine your goal.
Go back to the top and begin again.
Start your quilt today. Begin the dance. Finish a game you started and make a score!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment