STEP BY STEP...
Goals are funny creatures. At one time they appear easily obtainable. You can picture them in your mind, know that you can achieve them. That if you reach high enough you will be able to grab hold and understand that if you hold on tight enough they will be yours.
Then with a flick of their tail, these mercurial beasts change. They appear gossamer thin and vanish without a trace, they slither out of reach when ever you near them or else they grow to a size that is so daunting we leave them alone.
Last sunday I walked, one of many thousands, in the Mothers Day Classic. I walked (not ran) the 4km with a group of friends (new and old- Kim, Susannah and Fiona). Deep down I knew it wasn't a big ask. Give up a sleep in and breakfast in bed (hate breakfast in bed- all those crumbs- shudder) to walk a few kms for a great cause. Easy.
At my pace. I'm not built for speed, more for comfort. However with the girls at my side the walk was done in a good time, at a good pace. All because we worked on one step at a time.
And it was done. Goal achieved. Next year perhaps the 8km walk, or dare I even think about a 4km run- at my pace which is a very very slow jog/walk?
In my writing group we look at goals for the year in the first meeting. It's January so we are filled with energy and zest, feel that we can obtain so much. We tend to revisit our goals in the middle of the year, to see how we are faring. To see what has worked, what has fallen by the way and what we now know is not possible.
Sometimes this revisiting is great. We can see where we need to work harder, refresh our memory with why we wanted to achieve something in the first place. Other times it is so daunting to look at all that is yet to be even started.
But if you take it slowly, step by step, (biteable chunks) a huge goal is taken down into something quite achievable. I have a list of 6 goals. The biggest one by far was to finish the first draft of the YA novel I'm working on.
That's a big ask. But by cutting it down into writing between 700-1000 words a week, it's workable, and frankly do-able. Wednesday is my writing day and I'm finding even when I'm called into work on my day off, I manage those 1000 words before I head in. It's given me a huge sense of achievement.
I'm not saying that those 1000 words are good, or even legible. Sometimes they are purely words thrown together in some sort of order, and hopefully on the theme. But they are words. At the end of the year I will have something to work on, something to edit.
You can't edit nothing.
So taking things slowly, step by step, is the way to go. There is no one to race against except yourself. You set the pace. You set the finish line.
And before you know it you've walked the 4 km and you're thinking 'Wow, that was easy.'
Then with a flick of their tail, these mercurial beasts change. They appear gossamer thin and vanish without a trace, they slither out of reach when ever you near them or else they grow to a size that is so daunting we leave them alone.
Last sunday I walked, one of many thousands, in the Mothers Day Classic. I walked (not ran) the 4km with a group of friends (new and old- Kim, Susannah and Fiona). Deep down I knew it wasn't a big ask. Give up a sleep in and breakfast in bed (hate breakfast in bed- all those crumbs- shudder) to walk a few kms for a great cause. Easy.
At my pace. I'm not built for speed, more for comfort. However with the girls at my side the walk was done in a good time, at a good pace. All because we worked on one step at a time.
And it was done. Goal achieved. Next year perhaps the 8km walk, or dare I even think about a 4km run- at my pace which is a very very slow jog/walk?
In my writing group we look at goals for the year in the first meeting. It's January so we are filled with energy and zest, feel that we can obtain so much. We tend to revisit our goals in the middle of the year, to see how we are faring. To see what has worked, what has fallen by the way and what we now know is not possible.
Sometimes this revisiting is great. We can see where we need to work harder, refresh our memory with why we wanted to achieve something in the first place. Other times it is so daunting to look at all that is yet to be even started.
But if you take it slowly, step by step, (biteable chunks) a huge goal is taken down into something quite achievable. I have a list of 6 goals. The biggest one by far was to finish the first draft of the YA novel I'm working on.
That's a big ask. But by cutting it down into writing between 700-1000 words a week, it's workable, and frankly do-able. Wednesday is my writing day and I'm finding even when I'm called into work on my day off, I manage those 1000 words before I head in. It's given me a huge sense of achievement.
I'm not saying that those 1000 words are good, or even legible. Sometimes they are purely words thrown together in some sort of order, and hopefully on the theme. But they are words. At the end of the year I will have something to work on, something to edit.
You can't edit nothing.
So taking things slowly, step by step, is the way to go. There is no one to race against except yourself. You set the pace. You set the finish line.
And before you know it you've walked the 4 km and you're thinking 'Wow, that was easy.'
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