This year, I set myself 22 little goals to pursue throughout the year. I call them the 22 in 22. Once a week (or there abouts), I take a few minutes to check my progress on a few of my goals.
#9 Create a workflow for new projects and know how long each part takes realistically
Alternative subtitle: I thought a Gantt Chart would be my salvation.
When I first start a creative project, I micro-manage every detail. This is probably for a bunch of reasons, one big one being that I often bite off more than I can chew and so I have to set myself bite-sized goals to get anything done.
Another reason I micro-manage is because this hyper attention to detail gives me an illusion of control over something that I desire. Control over anything being a net negative in my life these days, micro-managing myself is a safe way to assert my need for control.
Yay. Having self-diagnosed as a control-freak, let’s move on to the uproarious laughter when I realized that lately, since the podcast returned from summer hiatus, I have been getting it out on time without even checking my Gantt Chart.
Yes, I have a checklist. But even that I have been forgetting to consult.
Yes, but Lily, what does it mean? (That was you, said in your Cinderella voice.)
It means that I have climbed that initial hill on the roller coaster of this creative project. It means that I have started integrating habits and routines of putting the podcast together, uploading it, creating the visuals, etc.
It means that somehow, that big dream I have cultivated for years, which I started living out in January, has become a part of my life the way changing the sheets and doing the dishes is.
Hip hip, hooray! For habits, routines.
(I’m over here quaking in my boots that another dream is going to sneak up in here and demand I make room for it too. One crazy dream at a time, please, Mrs. Fields.
#20 Practice Mindfulness: articulate and savor the good moments
I haven’t been saying “This is a good moment” the way I was earlier this summer, but…I guess…I haven’t needed to.
Why is that, Lily Fields?
Why, thank you for asking! Well…I guess… because there’ve been preponderance of good moments lately.
This school year started off on the right foot. That planning session the indulgent husband and I had, during which we planned out our bi-monthly small group meetings, our trips to his parents’ house…it meant that a lot of uncertainty was removed.
Surprise you as it may (eyeroll) I don’t enjoy uncertainty. We actually talk about uncertainty on the podcast next week…and how creativity is an anecdote to uncertainty as it helps us have control over something (sound like any self-diagnosed control freak you know and love?)
Certainty…within reason…helps me have a better attitude about everything.
Now, all of this being said…I want to get into a practice of at least once a day making note of a good moment. Because, just as when there is a preponderance of bad moments and we don’t stop to recognize a good one, we lose track of our joy, I don’t want to lose track of my joy when there is a preponderance of good moments.
Maybe that will be a challenge for 2023.
#7 Don’t Look Down”: Keep chipping away at finding a literary agent who shares my vision.
I haven’t said much about this lately because honestly, I haven’t been doing much. I know that hard work will pay off, and I haven’t been working hard. So there you have it.
However, I had promised myself that I would get to spend one day one my birthday week “doing absolutely nothing”, which I did by spending one day this week re-reading Book 2.
And holy moly, it’s really good. Because I haven’t touched it in so long, I had forgotten about some of the ins and outs and reveals…and I was just so pleased!
If querying agents could be as satisfying as putting out a podcast every week, I would so be on this. How in the world can I find joy in the rejection? (That is a real question, not a rhetorical one.)
Sing With Your Feet 