M. Suzanne Terry

For much of my life I have often been treated like the smartest person in the room. Whether or not I have been said person is highly debatable. But even when – especially when – I know I’m not, I like the challenge of this expectation. It motivates me to dream big and set go-for-the-gold, be-all-you-can-be, insert-your-favorite-inspiring-cliche-here goals. And can I meet them? Of course I can. I’ve been told my whole life that I can.

The downside to this is that I tend toward perfectionism. I can set ten lofty goals for the year, meet nine of them, and still feel like a complete failure because I missed one. That means I can’t be the smartest, because the smartest would not have missed that tenth goal. That one will haunt me. I will miss sleep over it. I will write long, whiny, navel-gazing blog posts, most of which I won’t actually post (you’re welcome), about it.

But that feeling? It’s not the truth. And I’m writing about it today not just because I need to hear it but because maybe you need to hear it, too.

Meeting goals – any goal – is not failure; it’s progress. It’s growth. It’s not losing ground or even remaining still; it’s moving forward.

[This is not to say that if you don’t maniacally set goals like I do that you’re stagnating. I’m sure you’re growing, too, even if you don’t have a compulsive need to document it.]

So when one of the activities in Beth Morey’s Your Fearless Year 2016 was to list twenty achievable but big and fearless goals, I was equal parts excited and scared to commit to that much of a plan. Okay – four parts excited, one part scared – my love for this list is pretty big. I’ve mentioned some of these already this year, but they’re all important to me.

The list:

 1. Get a job (or a way to generate income) that is better suited to my strengths.

2. Move into a house (or again- a place that is better suited to me).

3. Finish a complete rough draft manuscript of at least one of my current works in progress.

4. Submit at least ten items (articles, poems, flash fiction, essays, or the aforementioned manuscript) for publication.

5. Read 100 books.

6. Start a newsletter.

7. Launch my writer website.

8. Choose and use social media outlets better (more coming soon on this).

9. Showcase coffee picture project in a public way (calendar? Book of poetry? Step one – choose a medium.).

10. Replace one worn-out or not-really-me item at my house per month. Late December/early January was a three-for-one deal – bedroom curtain, shower curtain, and a WIP shelf. I think the shelf is my favorite:

11. Send holiday cards with a picture I’ve taken myself.

12. Take a trip for fun.

13. Take a dance class.

14. Try one of the new crafts that my crafting friends have been inviting me to try.

15. Throw my Hemingway party (food that is simple and good – like Hemingway’s prose – and drinks laden with booze – like Hemingway).

16. Learn to speak better Spanish.

17. Find (or make) a place to play piano on a regular basis.

18. Go on a date.

19. Participate in a Couch-to-5K program (projected start – late May with a race on July 4^th).

20. Take a cooking class. Possibly knife skills. Or cake decorating. Or overcoming chicken phobia (is that a thing that people teach? Because it should be.).

So there they are, and here’s to making progress.

I’m linking up with Marvia Davidson for Real Talk Tuesdays. Join the conversation!