Striving Toward Your Potential

It’s the first post of the New Year, so really, there’s only one thing to post about:

New Beginnings!

New beginnings are both scary and exciting. Last year was a bust writing-wise for me. But in a way, it was the time I needed to take a breather and revisit my goals. There is one thing that is always on my mind: writing. It’s a goal that I know I have in common with many others. It’s what this Untethered Realms blog is about: a group of writers coming together to support each other in our writerly endeavors.

I consider writing a gift. A gift given to us by God as something that we need to develop. That's where the yearning comes from. 

The analogy I like to use is that writing is like an addiction. I’m not happy when I haven’t had my fix. It’s like getting tattoos. Once you start, you don’t want to stop. It’s how you show and share your creativeness with the world. I don’t mean the kind of addiction some have to drugs or alcohol. Those addictions are based in unhappiness and pain.

I'm talking about the kind of addictions that are based in happiness like drawing, painting, designing or writing. I feel happy when I’m writing, or thinking about writing, or planning to write, or outlining a story so that I can write. Or reading what other people write!

Shawn Achor, author and happiness researcher—it’s a real thing!—says, “Happiness is the joy you feel striving toward your potential.”  

My wish for the year ahead is for everyone reading this to strive toward their potential.

Here’s what I’ll be striving toward this year:

What will you be striving toward?

Stepping Stones

Well this is probably as close as I've ever cut a blog post I was supposed to write in a given day. It's 11:30 PM, and I have 30 minutes to type this, so please bear with me.

The nice thing, of course, is that this post will be nice and short and sweet for you to read, since I want to stick to nice, short and sweet to write as well.

Basically though, I just want to remind you to give yourself a break. Especially if you're super goal-orientated like me.

I mean, I have goals for the day, for the month, for the year, for the next five years. And that's just for my writing. I'm not even going into all the other things that have to go on in my life, like my life goals (I want to speak seven languages fluently before I die), work goals (would be nice if I died a multi-millionaire who spoke seven languages fluently) and the like.

So yeah. I like goals. Goals, to me, are like stepping stones marking out the road I'm taking to get certain things done.

There's a problem with this, though. Sometimes, I get so focused on stepping on each of those stones that I don't look up and enjoy my surroundings. And the thing with that is that if I'm not enjoying at least something of what's going on around me, what's the point of taking the journey on the first place?

Take my life at the moment. Job pretty much slowed to a crawl, so I set this huge writing goal that I wanted to achieve in July. (I wanted to write 75k in 31 days.) It was definitely doable. In fact, I'd hit 50k in a bit more than two weeks. But in week three, this incredibly amazing job opportunity came along. The problem? 18 hour work days since week three. Which means that I'm now at 63k, and will have to write 4k every day just to get to my goal.

Over the weekend, I busted my butt, trying to get into what I like to call catch-up range. And I came close. But on Monday, the 18 hour work days resumed. And today I just realized that hey, I'm working with some exciting stuff. Yes, I might not write as much. I might not make my goal. But this opportunity, I believe, will go on to define my life (in the sense that I'll be running a huge business by the end of the year. In an industry that has always fascinated me).

Why should I put the added guilt and pressure on myself to write those last 12k? I can write them later when I have more time again. I can write them, when I feel like writing instead of panicking because I'm not writing enough. 

So that's what I am doing as of right now. Still hitting those stepping stones, but slow enough that I can actually enjoy what I'm going.

What about you?

Setting Writing Goals for the New Year

Happy New Year!

It's that time again when many of us make resolutions and set goals for the new year. Unfortunately the majority of people will not stick to them. We all start with good intentions and a positive outlook, but something happens along the way. A little bump in the road, a distraction, or a villain blows up your batcave. 

But we should not let these things deter us from our goals. We must stay strong.

Here are some tips to help you stick to your writing goals and become your own superhero.

1) Set smart (a.k.a. realistic) goals. You must be specific: know how much time you have to dedicate to it and make sure you set goals that are attainable in that time period. If you're going to get up one hour earlier in the mornings to write, make sure you're still getting enough sleep. You can't persevere if you're falling asleep at your desk.

2) Set inspiring goals. While you want to be realistic about what you can do, you want to do something that motivates you and leaves you in awe of what you've accomplished. This is what you dreamed about doing. Find a path that works for you to achieve it.

3) Break your big goals down to smaller, more manageable goals. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Be aware of your schedule. One month might be much busier than the next. Also, know how you write. Are you fast or slow? Do you edit as you go along? For some people, measurable ones like setting a daily word count target work best. For others, one short story a month is a reasonable goal since they might only get a chance to write on weekends.

4) Reward yourself. Sometimes being a writer can be stressful, even overwhelming. Drafting, revising, editing, querying, marketing, and networking. Yikes! It helps to take a step back and do something else you like after you achieve a small goal. Go for a walk, enjoy a movie, or bake cookies. Relax. Winding down will help make you see things in a more positive light and boost your creativity.

5) Most importantly, be flexible. Life is going to take you on some unexpected turns. You might have to work later at the office or an illness could keep you in bed for weeks. Don't get discouraged. These goals are your own. You can change them. Don't let the villains stop you from reaching your dreams.

What are your writing goals for this year? Do you have any tips that help you stick with them?

Cheers!

Christine Rains