The Bonus Of A Goal Buddy

DO YOU HAVE A GOAL BUDDY?

Time may give us the illusion that it is infinite, but it’s not. One day, each of us will reach the end of the line in this journey called Life.

It’s quiet moments on back country roads like this that make me ponder:
• How am I spending each precious minute of my day?
• Am I wisely investing my time and energy towards achieving that which is important to me?
• What activities bring me the most joy in accordance with my Major Goals and Life’s Purpose?

There is something powerful about writing down a goal, but I believe there is added empowerment in speaking that goal out loud to a trusted friend. There is accountability. There is encouragement. There is the gentle nudge on those days when the goal seems impossible.

For more than 10 years, I’ve had a Goal Buddy – my best friend, Suzan.

This unique aspect of our friendship allows us to motivate and inspire each other in our individual journeys, to take small steps on a daily or weekly basis towards bigger goals, and to celebrate the victories, both big and small.

On occasion, I’m faced with a challenge where a goal no longer brings joy to my life, or it no longer serves a purpose towards my Major Goals or Life Purpose. At those times, like the song says, I have to be strong enough to ♫ let it go ♫.

Tomorrow morning, Suzan and I will have an early morning conference call to review our individual 2nd Quarter accomplishments, and stake a claim in what each of us wants to achieve in the 3rd Quarter of 2016. These conversations light a fire in my soul that make me appreciate every minute in the day.

I’ll note that when we first started these Goal Buddy Reviews, it was on a weekly basis. Over the years, however, we’ve hit a comfortable stride with our progress so that we only do Goal Reviews at the end of every quarter, and at the beginning of each New Year.

My Suggestion: Life is short. Make it count. No regrets. Figure out what’s important to you, grab a trusted Goal Buddy to share your vision, then create a road map to keep you on track!

Wishing you abundant blessings,
AmyO.

 

Writing Time! August 2015

Inspired by the monthly tweets of author Jamie Todd Rubin (@jamietr), I’ve been tracking my own writing time for the past few months.

Not only does this help ensure daily writing accountability, but it’s also helpful to have handy on those days when I find myself feeling frustrated for “not writing enough.”

While some writers like to track the number of word written, I prefer to track time, since screenwriting and some of my other projects can’t be accurately tracked by word count.

Writing Tracker for the Month of May

My sole focus during this time was to finalize my Romantic/Comedy screenplay to make the June 1st deadline for the New York Women In Film & Television Writers Lab competition.

Fueled by the looming deadline and copious amounts of coffee, I fired up the tubro engines for the last half of the month!

• I’d wake at 5:30 a.m. (without an alarm clock), dashing to the laptop, ready to write.
• I’d force myself shut off the laptop around 1 a.m.
• There was a notebook with me everywhere I went to capture ideas and notes as they hit my mind.
• I also took two personal days off from work during the last week of May.

As a result, the completed and polished Rom/Com script was submitted to three national screenwriting contests, and I was pleased with it.

Jump to August: A Horrible Start!

There were a couple of RV travel days, as well as the unexpected back-to-back losses of a few dear friends in June and July, so I was working through the emotional gut punch.

Through sheer determination, I was able to get back into a daily writing routine after the first week of August.

Since Aug. 8th, I’ve met my minimum 30-minute per day writing goal (as indicated by the green field).

Tracking Three Writing Categories

Since there were three separate categories for my creative writing, it seemed logical to break it down respectively.

(1) Screenplay: Although it’s already been submitted to the three contests, it still needs revisions based on feedback from the Blue Cat Screenwriting competition. Deadline for resubmitting is in October.

(2) Blog/Other: This category includes blog posts, website updates (OnTheGoWithAmyO.com), and writing involved with my new photography project.

(3) WIP (Work In Progress): From August 12-24, I browsed through my Story Inventory for a new project. I “interviewed” each story in longhand on paper, along with its characters, plot possibilities, concept, theme and my interest level in order to decide which one was the most ready to be told. A decision was made, and the writing began on Aug. 26.

August may have started like snail, but it ended like a cheetah!

Top 5 Writing Goals for September 2015

1. Complete a character analysis and detailed storyboard for the current WIP.
2. Continue to write for at least 30 minutes every day.
3. Complete revisions to the Romantic/Comedy screenplay and finalize contest submissions for the year.
4. Finish website content (OnTheGoWithAmyO.com)
5. Tie in On The Go With AmyO. Facebook page posts with this blog.

Hope to have a good report to share in about a month.

By the way, if you’re a writer, do you keep track of your daily writing time/word count? If so, how?

Write on!

AmyO.

Goal-Setting to Achieve Dreams

My personal 5-Step Plan To Achieving A Goal:
1) Dream/Visualize it.
2) Write it down, with a deadline.
3) Work towards the goal a little bit every day.
4) Savor the moment when the goal is achieved.
5) Repeat.

Those who know me well know that goal-setting is as much of my core as are writing, rescue and adventuring.

I’m a firm believer in visualization, writing goals down on paper, and mapping out milestones (baby steps!) needed to achieve the goal.

Sometimes, all my hard work may not produce the results in the order in which I envisioned, but oftentimes, the reward is far better than I could have possibly imagined.

For me, setting these personal goals is a liberating experience. It’s as if I’m a captain on a very important ship at sea. As long as I know the course I need to be going, and moving in a forward direction, I can relax and enjoy the journey.

Additionally, I am blessed that my best friend Suzan is also my Goal Buddy. This amazing lady has been an anchor in my whirlwind life for more than 10 years!

Even though she’s in California and I’m *roaming*, we support each other thanks to phone calls, text and emails.

In the spirit of friendship, we hold each other accountable for goals dare to set, and celebrate – via long distance – each others’ success.

At the start of every year, Suzan and I block out a couple of hours to review the previous year’s goals, reflect on the accomplishments, and explore perhaps why a particular goal wasn’t met.

We then turn our attention to the promise of the year ahead:

• Personal goals
• Professional goals
• Writing goals
• Financial goals
• Health goals
• And so on…

Ultimately, we seek new ways to be challenged, new learning opportunities, bigger dreams to work towards, and, for the past few years, assigning a “yearly theme” or mantra.

We genuinely rejoice in the successes of one another… there is no competition, no envy, no jealously. There is absolute honesty and trust. My friendship soul mate!

As we prepare to enter the final month of the 3rd Quarter of 2014, I find myself scanning my Quarterly and Yearly goals… the end of 2014 is getting closer! Am I on track? Am I hitting my mark? Am I at least moving in the right direction to where I want to be?

If I find that I’ve diverted off-course, it’s as easy as (1) readjusting my goal timetable, or (2) taking time to reevaluate/re-prioritize the goal. Nothing is set in stone that I can’t change my mind. That is the beauty of living the life of *my* dreams, *my* bliss. It allows me the freedom to change and grow as a person, and have my goals reflect this development.

For those who currently are not big goal setters, or maybe don’t know where to being, I highly recommend the following:

• “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Your Dreams” (Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson, pictured)
• “The Success Principles: How To Get From Where You Are to Where You Want To Be” (Jack Canfield)
• “Think and Grow Rich” (Napoleon Hill)
• “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (Stephen R. Covey)

I know there are thousands of goal-setting books out there, but if you’ve had one that impacted you, or if you have other goal setting tips or advice that’s helped keep you on track with your goals, I’d be grateful for you to share them in the comments.

Make it happen!

Amy O.

http://www.AmyOakley.com