Okay....Who's Coming With Me?

In the movie, Jerry Macguire, we see a man who has reached the end of his rope. He is a sports agent and he determines to set out on his own, starting his own sports agency and getting his own clients. He has set out on a journey, he has set a goal, and he leaves everything that is familiar to him to reach that goal. His own sports agency.

I set out on a journey, and there are some people who are Facebook friends who have been seeing that journey and lending their support. But today, this is not about me, though I will use my journey as fodder for discussion.Today, my dear friends, my faithful blog followers, I am going to see if you are paying attention, because this is about you. This is about a journey I want you to follow me on.

Let's talk about goals.

I am no inspirational speaker, so if you are uninspired, it is as it should be. But I am a man who had reached the end of his rope. This is what I did, and what I am inviting you to do.

I set daily goals. Not detailed. Not elaborate. Simple and no-brainer. Just my speed. Something that I can think about all day, with the 500 hundred other things I think about all day.

The reason I did that is because it is true that a goal that is unformed in your head is just a dream. It's a hope. It has no substance. It means nothing to you. The minute you write it down, it becomes something. Like a contract with yourself. Like a promise, in writing.

I went to this site and printed the plainest, pedestrian calendar I could print: Printable Calendars  I did that because I wanted to write all over it and really use it to show myself the progress I made. I wasn't looking for a beautiful wall calendar with castles in the sky and rainbow bridges to Neverland on it. This calendar was going to do some hard work. The uglier the better, at least for me. Do whatever you want.

On that calendar, I set three goals everyday. Three. A work goal. A health goal. A writing goal. If you're not a writer, substitute something else. Weaving baskets. starting a business. Starting a business weaving baskets. Whatever you want. If you don't have a job. That's okay. set another goal. For me, work is how I pay for the the place we live in, the food we have, and the fun that we have. Without a solid work goal, I will be looking for other employment. The health goal I will talk about in a second. The writing goal is because I am a writer and will get nowhere without a goal. If I let my feelings take control of my writing, I will write far less than I should.

So on to the health goal...

I'm 47.

I started not feeling so great when I reached about 45. I am exhausted with how worn out I feel, at 47. This is ridiculous. I'm still young. I was too tired to work. I was too tired to write. I was just too tired. So my health goal is the one that all of the others hinge on. Without that one, I can forget the others. So, 45 minutes to an hour of P90X seems to do the trick for me. I feel so energized after a workout, I feel like I could take on the world.

Back to the calendar. I set 5 weeks of goals for myself. I wrote them out so simple an ape can follow them.

C for career and the goal
P for personal health and the goal
W for writing and the goal.

Everyday. Then I just started doing it.

What did I find out? I found out that I make a lot of excuses. I started paying attention to those too. Now every time I come up with an excuse, I make myself get up and do it. I have been at this for a week.

I honestly haven't felt this good, physically, in years.
I haven't written this much in a week in a very long time. A total of 15,000 words.
I have never had a more successful week at work. My manager says I am doing great.

So what do you think? Got some goals you want to get accomplished? This could be the time you get everything you want....faster than you ever thought possible...

Who's coming with me?

Let me know what you're going to do. I love hearing from you guys and hope to hear from a lot of you!