I was sitting here, working on my 2021 goals, and thinking about what I could add this year to challenge myself as a creator while bringing extra value to my audience, when I had a REALIZATION. A big one.
I had already written down all of the things from 2020 that I wanted to carry over to 2021 — weekly Write Now Podcast episodes, releasing Girl In Space Season 2, support and ongoing content for my Podcast Now course, my biweekly livestreams, and, of course, these “Dear Creators” newsletters.
I was in the midst of brainstorming what I wanted to add — a marketing course for writers, a small stand-alone marketing course for podcasters, a video series for IGTV, several ebooks, a novel, some coaching opportunities, and potentially additional livestreams — and started panicking. When was I going to do all this new stuff in addition to the stuff I was already doing?
And then it clicked. Maybe I should be removing things from my list of goals instead of adding more.
It’s probably obvious to you as an onlooker, but this really blew my mind. I’d always seen goal-setting as an exercise in asking, “What else can we add to your plate?” Certainly, in previous jobs, that’s what it had always been. A goal there couldn’t be “Continue working on my daily tasks” — it had to be something new, something big, like “Write X new blog posts for the company blog each month,” or “Create a training program for Y,” or “Innovate a new method for Z.”
It was largely (not to sound cynical, but… okay, maybe I’m a little tiny bit cynical) a song and dance to earn my keep at the company, and maybe entice management to grant me a raise.
But… I don’t have to impress a boss anymore. Well, I mean, okay, my boss is technically ME, and she’s not incredibly impressed with my singing or dancing.
I don’t need to set goals to impress anyone or “earn my keep”. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. The goals that I set need to challenge me as a creator, and keep me on my own path to success.
I read Steven Pressfield’s Turning Pro at the end of December 2020, and from it I gained a very strong sense of clarity — namely, regarding the nature of my true work (as opposed to my “should” work). My true work is all the stuff I believe I am on this planet to do (e.g., my best creative work, encouraging other creators), and everything else (course-making, IGTV-series-filming, ebook-writing, all the things other people keep telling me I “should” do) is just noise.
I think I will get more of my true work done this year if I focus on it, instead of distracting myself with the “should” work. Because in trying to do all of the things, I was focusing on none of them.
In 2021, I’m working on the same stuff as last year. But this year, I’m going to focus on it and make sure it’s the best it can possibly be.
Words & warmth,
Sarah