Goals Archives - Pick a DirectionPick a Direction

The Unbelievably Simple Technique I Used To Stay Focused On My Dream

One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is, “What’s the best way to stay focused on my goals?” The following story will give you the experience I had so you’ll better understand my process. Take from it what you will, but this story reflects how I plan to say focused on my biggest goals in the future.

Your Story Starts

The statement was simple, but its impact startled you.

Your intellectual property lawyer, Jeremy, was giving you basic information on copyright law for the book you were writing. The email exchange should have been pretty dry, but his reply hit you like an unexpected dodgeball to the face. He gave you all the information you asked about: when to file for copyright, cost, and what the process looks like. But he also dropped a bomb on you.

Just above his signature, as an encouraging gesture, Jeremy wrote:

6 Of The Most Painful Self-Publishing Mistakes I Made While Publishing My First Book

I recently completed my first book. I refer to this experience as “a journey” with anyone who is polite enough to ask. I started the journey two+ years ago and I’ve grown tremendously during that time.

“The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”
– Annie Dillard

After reading this quote (in Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work!) I knew I had to share my findings as soon my fingers were no longer tasked with typing the story.

Over the last two years I learned how to build a life that allows me to write, how to bring out my best creativity and so much more. I learned something every day I sat down to work on the book. Since I don’t want these lessons to turn into my second book, these are a few of the most painful self-publishing mistakes I made along the way. Since I know many people in my audience haven’t published a book, I have paired these lessons with applications outside of the publishing realm.

How To Accomplish More in 2015 (My Goals)

How To Accomplish More I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, New Year’s “Resolutions” are a waste of time.

Yearly Goals, however, are something I highly value. I firmly believe that once you set your mind to something, the only thing that can stop you is you. There is no other time in history which has offered more resources or connectivity than right now. This goal setting process (I’ll be sharing the full monty in a couple months if you’d like to learn how to accomplish more) helps me define my year and set my focus.

WRITE IT DOWN

It starts with reflection and moves on to action steps. You’re currently reading something in between those two pillars: the act of writing it down. Many people’s New Year’s Resolutions dissipate because they don’t put their thoughts into a physical form. That, plus the fact most resolutions are vague and unmeasurable = resolutions broken in record time.

Writing down your thoughts is one of the most powerful activities you can do if you’re trying to figure something out. This goes for work problems, relational challenges, daddy issues, and especially your goals. You have over 50,000 thoughts per day. The only thing that separates the junk from the gems are what you choose to articulate in a physical form, i.e. write down your goals if you are serious about them.

7 Things I Learned By Having A Transformational Year

“The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.”
– Colin Wilson

When 2014 began, I was determined NOT to be a cow standing in the rain. I labeled it a transformational year and it has been just that. Since I started this blogging journey I have shared tons of personal stories, successes, and failures. 1 year ago I shared my goals for 2014 in an effort to keep myself accountable.

I didn’t want 2014 to be “just another year” in my life. It wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

2014’s List of Goals

~~Volunteering~~
~~Speed Reading~~
~~Building a TV Stand~~
~~Writing an eBook~~
Sprint Triathlon
~~Monetizing the Blog~~
~~Finish 40 Books~~

As you can see, I crossed off almost everything I set out to do this year. I couldn’t be happier about reviewing this list and re-reading my post about goals from last January. It shows me how far I’ve come as a writer (mainly how far I still have to go) as well as how my focus has shifted from last year.