I have a goal. When I first moved to Vancouver I felt excited… but then quickly discouraged when the hugeness of what I was trying to accomplish began to settle. It wasn’t long before I became, well, depressed. I remember working as a host at a restaurant and feeling my self-worth quickly drain down the toilet. Here I was, a university graduate working at a restaurant. What was I doing? I felt stuck before I had even gotten started. I feel certain that I’m not the only person who has ever begun a journey and been overwhelmed with the question: where do I start? How do I start? Do I even have what it takes. Fear. It’s in all of us, and it’s an emotion that I battle with every day.
This question of “how” is actually why I started this website. I wanted to document my journey towards something – my journey away from rock bottom. If I can be so bold, I wanted to document a journey towards success because I felt certain that the only way that I could ever achieve success was by believing that it was possible for me.
This blog has slowly evolved over time. I’ve come up with ideas that have sometimes failed and sometimes succeeded. There’s been a lot of experimenting. Slowly a goals list appeared, and then a bucket list, and then I settled on working through “The Artist’s Way.” Now, over a year since I started this website, I’ve come to identify with the title “author of The Positivity Project” – maybe some other blog owners can relate to this feeling? It’s that feeling of pride in having something that belongs to only you.
Now to get to the point. I recently came up with an idea that has sort of excited me. I wanted this website to document a journey so that I could document in real time an evolution. I wanted to inspire others, and I wanted to show that it was possible to evolve into the person that you want to be. That’s the quote that I started with. A quote by Oprah Winfrey :
“The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.”
That’s the quote that started everything. But HOW (there’s that word again) do people evolve?
On the sidebar of my blog there are 2 new links that I have just put up. One says “my weekly planner” and the other says “weekly planning template.” It’s a planner that I’ve adapted from Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”
My Goal
Here’s what I’m trying to do. Every week I’m going to fill out my planner, and then in real time you’ll be able to watch me progress towards my goals. It doesn’t stop there. I don’t want this to end with me. Click on the template and you will be able to fill one of these out yourself. Save it, and then provide a link for your followers on your own website, or send the google doc link to your friends so that they can watch your progress.
After every week, save your “progress file” and start to keep a database of weeks. In one month you’ll be able to look back and really appreciate what you accomplished. Where did you fall short? Where did you excel?
Here’s my vision. What if some of the most successful people in the world (I have a film and tv bias) like Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, and James Cameron – what if they had kept a record of what they did week by week to get to where they are today? I’m not saying that you should ever try to replicate another person’s journey, but to have access to that sort of information. It would be pretty inspiring and pretty useful don’t you think? Not to mention the fact that posting your weekly plan in the public eye sort of makes you accountable for what you’ve said you would accomplish.
Here are the links
Tell me what you think? I’d love some feedback.
I love your mission statement!
You go girl!
I have (since February- one month after starting) produced a writing schedule/ action plan. I list other important events, assessments and deadlines related to work, but the rest of my life just gets scribbled on a To Do List pad!
You have to be focused and forward thinking to succeed as an artist, this is certainly a big step in the right direction!
Good luck, don’t forget to reward yourself for your achievements!
Ah yes, the reward part. This week Julia Cameron has me looking at my bad habits and I realized that I have a tendency to over-book myself which means that I’m never finished and so never actually reward myself. Obviously this is something I’m now having to look at.
How has your writing plan been working for you? I know that you’ve been accomplishing a lot lately, so I’m going to say well – but do you have any advice/tips to share?
I post some articles with tips from time to time.
In brief;
Believe you can & you will & between the idea and the result? Lots of commitment & hard work!
I have the same issue as you, spreading myself too thinly, but life’s short right?
It is going well, I am still sowing seeds but believe I will see results.
I think it’s great. Documentation is a great way to foster accountability to your goal and take the spotlight off the fear. If you are focusing on your weekly goals and your plans then you won’t be so consumed with the little voice that says your goal is too big, etc. I started a goal of sending out an article or something, anything, every week to up my odds of publication. While I haven’t met my goal exactly, I have sent out exactly 10 more articles than last year, so I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. Goals and plans are key, I think! Keep it up. You’re inspiring me!
I completely agree. The planner is helping me to consciously move forward in manageable and less scary chunks. I love that goal of sending out an article every week. 10 more articles than last year? and we’re only in May. That’s awesome! Congratulations. You inspire me too. Thank you.
I really struggle with time management, so seeing your weekly planner is super useful:) I am printing one out right now, to plan my next week:) thanks
I’m so glad that it was useful!! Let me know how it works for you.
I couldn’t access your vision board post on my phone. After a particularly bad week last week and a shocker of a day today, I have stayed up tonight to create my vision board. A lot of found text as you would expect from a writers pictorial vision.
Amazing!! Are you finished it now? How does it look?
Yeh I have finished it – lots of text – I am hoping next time I am online to upload some images to my blog – I will send you a link and let you know! It is very busy – I have looked at it all morning (particularly when on phone calls trying to make changes already!)
Inspiring and have heard the visuals work better than mental visualisation. Fingers crossed for a bright, new future!
Thanks for the inspiration & motivation!
Let me know if you upload them. You know, maybe I should make another vision boards.I don’t have a lot of text on the one that I currently have hanging in my office, and I think that would resonate well with me.
You inspire me! Thank you for sharing your story. I’m exited for you!
Inspiring work. Thank you for sharing your tools.
Your welcome. Thank you for commenting. Let me know, if you try the planner yourself, how it works for you.
[…] I go into more detail about why I created this planner, and you can read it in my blog post: Documenting the Journey Towards Success. […]