DAY #129 SO WHAT

“If you make a wish and then you make a plan, and then you execute the plan, you can have it. You can have what it is you want. You can create that for yourself.”

Like training for a marathon, right? First you have to know exactly what it is you want – 26.2 miles. Then you determine exactly what needs to happen for you to be able to meet that goal. And then you calendar those “do goals”. And there are a lot of websites out there that will do that for you – they will give you a marathon training calendar – they will give you a free training schedule for 12 months or 6 months, or wherever you are at.

“If you do everything on that training schedule, you will be prepared to run a marathon when the day comes. The secret is, are you going to do everything on that schedule if you put it on your calendar.”

On DAY #128 we were taught how to determined the priority, steps #1-3. Bry and I did that together, four weeks, right?

Today we will be talking about the “do goals” – our SO WHAT for SO WHAT SATURDAY – and the schedule, steps #4-6.

4. Take your priority, publish an article, in my case, and write it in a 90-day measurable outcome. What can I do in the next 90 days – what can I measure or check off in the next 90 days? Write down everything you need to do in the next 90 days to make sure that you accomplish that first 90-day goal.

By 7 June, do I have three possible articles written, and research done on five possible venues :

• Ideas, research, new angles
• Write rough drafts of three articles
• Have two different people or editing websites proof-read the articles
• Write semi-final drafts of the articles
• Research 15-20 different magazines or websites that print guest articles, and decide which five are more likely to fit me and my writing best

By 7 September, do I have five contacts contacted with questions about the publishing process, and have I begun submitting:

• Reach out to 10 different people, inquiring after the process I’d go through to publish an article, and narrow my list down to five contacts I’d like to keep
• Submit

By 7 December, has anything been published yet, and if not, start the process over again:

• Ideas, research, new angles
• Write rough drafts
• Edit
• Write final drafts
• Reconsider which websites or magazines I am submitting to
• Submit

5. With this detailed list now made, I need to put everything in order of execution – and I want to make each “do goal” as clear as possible and as specific as possible, so that by doing all of the “do goals” I know I will get the result I want. And then sit down, schedule all “do goals” on my calendar. This is a time-consuming project.

6. Am I going to do everything that I scheduled on my calendar for me to do? Am I going to honor what’s on my calendar?

“This is where I think it starts to get really interesting. First of all, having the discipline to sit down, write down all your do goals, and then schedule them on your calendar, is an accomplishment in and of itself. It feels great… Then the second piece of that that’s really important is honoring what’s on my calendar, honoring those appointments that I have made with myself ahead of time. I know that if I do honor those commitments, if I do follow through on what I said I was going to do, that I will accomplish my goal.”

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I want to spend the rest of the post talking about what happens next. This, to me, is more important than any published article. More important than any “do goal”. It is more important than almost anything in life. It is about keeping my commitments to myself – having a relationship with myself where I trust myself.

“If we don’t have the results we want in our lives, is it because we’re not capable? Is it because we’re just too busy? Is it because we don’t have the support we need? Or is it because of our relationship with ourselves? Our integrity that we have with ourselves – are we not following through on those commitments that we have made to ourselves?”

Do I find myself, on the day I’m scheduled for action, negotiating with myself and coming up with excuses and reasons not to keep my commitment to myself? That’s just a reflection on my relationship with myself.

“The better my relationship gets with myself, the better I am at taking care of myself in the future.”

At this point, my goal is a healthy relationship with myself. I want to trust myself. That is how I will blow my goals out of the water, my friends! So I will set a goal and follow this strategy.

Can I do this? It is absolutely doable, look at my list of “do goal” items. Doable. I can reach impossible dreams! I can follow a plan! I can trust myself to do what I have asked myself to do. That will do more for my life than the published article itself.