Do you set personal goals for yourself?
Yes, I set personal goals. I also occasionally approve my own deadline extensions. Being both the employee and the entire human resources department has its advantages.
I want to finish my books, grow Voice With a Purpose, keep learning, and create work that makes someone feel a little less alone. I have ideas tucked into notebooks, ideas waiting in unfinished drafts, and ideas that arrive when I am supposed to be doing something about the other ideas.
My imagination has never consulted my energy level before making plans. We are working on communication.
But some of my goals are quieter. I want to ask for help before I have exhausted myself trying to prove I can manage. I want to enjoy an ordinary afternoon without mentally assigning it six things to accomplish. I want to make something simply because the color delights me or because a sentence showed up and I’m curious where it leads.
And I want to give myself fair credit.
If I write one good paragraph, I want to let it count. That poor paragraph should not have to spend its entire existence being scolded for failing to become a chapter.
Living with pain and uncertainty has made me reconsider what a reasonable deadline looks like. There are days when I can move a project forward, and days when I need to leave myself a note about where to begin again. I’m learning to make plans that allow for both.
I still have ambition. There are books I want to hold in my hands, places I want to see—Scotland, I have not forgotten you—and things I haven’t tried yet that might turn out to be wonderful.
So yes, I set goals. I want to keep making things, follow through on what matters, and have enough room in the day to enjoy some of it.
The deadlines are negotiable.
The glitter has already been approved.
