I heard Dr. Henry Cloud speak last night and he said something I really appreciated:
If you want your life to be different, it’s a good idea to sit down and figure out what you want that different to look like. You need vision.
Such a simple statement, but I think this is something that can easily be forgotten at the beginning of the year when we’re all setting our resolutions. It has to be more than just, “I want to have x accomplished,” it’s about clarifying your ultimate goals and then identifying the small/attainable steps you can make in the short, medium, and long term to get there. To use an example: Losing weight can’t be the goal—that’s a step toward an ultimate goal of something else and you need to be able to identify what that ultimate goal is or you’ll lose motivation.
And so that’s why goal casting is always a really big deal to me. I don’t just randomly make goals and throw them into the air hoping something sticks. I’m purposeful about what I want, what I need, and realistically what I can accomplish in a given set of time. So that being said, I have 7 goals this year:
- Hike 5 Texas State Parks with my family
- Finish revising TSBTS
- Draft/Revise historical adventure
- Write “Lyric’s story” (a MG novella for my daughter)
- Read one published book a week
- Finish getting out of debt (so close!)
- At least 4 family meals around the table a week
Things that aren’t goals, but are lifestyle changes I would like to see happen include becoming more disciplined about my writing time and drinking more water.
Things that I am putting into the universe that I would LOVE to have happen (but of which I have no control): selling a manuscript (or more!) and getting a promotion at work.
Let’s do this 2017!
Destiny Cole 