So, I finished The Power of Less by Leo Babauta. The book starts off with a metaphor of the haiku (a poem of 3 lines made up of 17 syllables – line 1=5 syllables, line 2=7 syllables and line 3=5 syllables). With so little elbow room to write, it is important to choose the images/ideas with the most impact. Each word is important.
Time is finite and we all have our goals that we want to accomplish. It’s easy to get pulled in different directions and lose focus. Instead of losing focus, pick one goal. It should be something that you are passionate about. And start small.
The idea is that you pick a goal that will take up to six months to a year to accomplish (losing weight, running a marathon, writing a play, etc.). Break the big goal into monthly sub-goals. Break the monthly goals into weekly tasks. And break the weekly tasks into achievable daily tasks. It is important that the daily tasks be achievable in one day – if not, break them down into smaller chunks. By the same token, your weekly tasks should be achievable by 7 daily tasks at most. If not, break the task down further.
It is important to start small. For example, If you are wanting to start an exercise regimen, commit to exercising for 5 minutes a day for a week. The following week, commit to exercising for 10 minutes a day. Keep those commitments and build on them slowly.
One of the ways to keep your commitments to your goals is to schedule them. Ideally, do them first thing in the morning. As well as your goal related task, Babauta suggests that you have two other daily tasks related either to home life or work life or one of each. These make up your Most Important Things (MITs). These are the things you should focus on before completing anything else; hence, it’s better to do them first thing in the morning.
Another thing is to schedule or plan when you will start working on your goal. When I finished the book, yesterday, I was chomping at the bit to get started right away. Don't rush in. It’s important to plan it a little. Build up some anticipation. At the very least, wait a couple of days before starting.
Since I’m focusing on playwrighting on this blog, I decide to focus on my goal to write a full length play. I’ve written one act plays, but I seem to have a glass ceiling for the full length play. I will start on Monday. Part of my goal to write a full length play is to get into the habit of doing some playwriting every day.
My goal for the next month is to write a page a day of script. But I will start small. Starting next week, I will commit to writing a quarter page of script a day. The week after that, I will write half a page of script. The following week, I will move up to three quarters of a page a day. And in the fourth week, I will be up to one page a day. Obviously, my daily goals will be to write the amount indicated in my weekly goals.
Oh, yeah. Leo suggests that tell people about your goals or blog about them. Guess what I decided to do? Blogging here I come. Originally, I had only planned on writing a couple of blogs a week. I wanted something that I thought that I could commit to. For the next little while, however, it looks like I will be blogging a lot more frequently.
What would your one goal be -- the one with the most impact? What small steps can you take to move you closer to it?
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