Now What?

Posted by Kate Traci on February 5, 2013 in Book of YOU, Tools | Leave a comment

We now have our goal and it’s a doozy. Now comes “The Plan.”

“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential,” Winston Churchill. That means we must plan for our success and yet also realize that these plans will look very different at the end than at the beginning.

We all know we have to break goals down: baby steps, turtle steps, bite-sized snacks. Whatever your pleasure, the result is the same. Small actions we can take every month, every week and every day that bring us walking toward our vision. Nope it’s not rocket science and nope its certainly not sparkly, but real work hardly ever is.

That is important to really understand and realize. So when things start to get hard we realize that it’s supposed to.

So my goal: To have a published novel by 2014.

That’s my year long goal. Yikes right? Now I need some meals and bite-sized snacks.

First My Monthly meals: Each month I plan what I need to accomplish. I set out my timeline. Each month for the next three months I need to write two chapters: Feb/March/April. Then I need to edit: May/June. Then I probably need to edit some more: July. From there I need to find someone to publish it: August/September.  Probably edit some more: October. Discuss and publish and work on cover art and all sorts of details I probably don’t even know yet but will by the time I get there: November/December.

How will I accomplish this?

Second My Weekly Appetizers: I take a look at my schedule. Where will I fit this in?  Pair up activities: When I do THIS I will do that. When I go to boot camp I will write after for 45mins- 1 hour in a coffee shop before I head home. Coffee or tea (reward essential) I call this my NNT: Non Negotiable Time. It is scheduled on my days like an appointment. I honor it. I tell people I am busy. I tell myself it is of the utmost importance that will not be missed, and most of all I enjoy it because here I just write.

Third My Bite-Sized Snacks:  To get to the finish line of a goal there are always a lot of small tasks that will need to be done. Some of these things will really suck. IF you look at a task and it just makes you ignore it, avoid it, or feel icky go back to your foundation. Ask yourself: IS this goal still what you want to achieve? Maybe you have already reached what you wanted to reach. Maybe your values have changed. IF this goal still rocks your world- remember “more than air”- then this is where we gut it out. Next step is to write down all the little tasks that you need to figure out.

Pick the one task that is next on the list that needs to be accomplished so you can move on. Once you identify this list and this task then talk to yourself. Cut your next task down smaller and smaller until it actually feels do-able.  Keep making it smaller and smaller until you feel relieved.  You will recognize it. Instead of: “uck, I don’t want to do this,” it will feel like: “Oh, ok I can do that.” 

One of my main characters finds himself in a “parallel universe”…sort of.  How do I make that based in science? Quantum Mechanics, of course. So my first bite-sized snack: Watch a Ted-Talk. Easily digestible. Perfect.

For continued motivation and inspiration hit play or click on the link below. This short 4 min video will make you want to climb Everest, or your own personal equivalent. Seriously.