Twice in recent months, I’ve heard people mention a commitment to daily goals which struck me as totally audacious. First, my mentor Bill Brown mentioned that he and his friend Jeff Hardin were writing and exchanging a new poem EVERY DAY. That’s my emphasis, not Bill’s. Every day? How in the world? I thought. I mean, these are men with families and jobs and other obligations, and I’ve no reason to think they have any more “free” time than I do. Bill reported that they were both getting a lot of good poems out of that commitment. (Bill and Jeff are both wonderful poets, by the way – you can sample Bill’s poem “In Praise of Winter Trees” on Chapter 16 and Jeff’s poem “Lightweights” on Verse Daily.)
Then my daughter and I went to hear singer-songwriter Joshua Kloyda at a local coffee shop. In between songs, Joshua mentioned that most of what he was playing were brand new songs – that he had challenged himself to write a new song every day for 14 days. He’s a younger man who may not have quite the commitments that some of us do, but to me this is still incredibly significant because of the dedication it reflects.
Joshua joked about being happy staying home in front of the fire to write a song instead of going out partying with friends, but the truth of the matter is that his success, and Bill and Jeff’s, reflect their priorities.
One of my favorite things in to world to do is creative writing, but I haven’t had much time for it in the past several months. I have excellent excuses for being absent from the page, but I won’t go into those right now. What’s pertinent is that, coincidental to the new year, my other obligations are now changing so that I have the chance to get back to creating. Therefore I’m following the example of Bill and Jeff and Joshua and setting this audacious (to me) goal:
From today until my next Risk a Day blog on February 4th, I’m going to write a new poem or edit an existing poem 5 days per week. This means I should have 23 new poems when I’m back next time.
I feel very queasy about this. In addition to going back to the job I get paid for today, I’ve also got commitments to teach a couple of workshops for writers in January (for which I’m currently unprepared), help my husband with some home improvement projects that we started in the fall and haven’t quite finished, and generally do the mom thing with my teenagers as needed. Plus I’ve heard from several friends in the past few days (what a blessing), all saying, “Let’s get together soon!” and of course I want to do that, too. Then there’s also the fact that it’s January, and my energy level tends to run a little low this time of year – I mean, I come home from work, get into my PJs, and hit the couch by 7:30.
I am a very goal-oriented, list-making person. And while I do have some big hairy audacious goals and a method for working toward them, as popularized by many businesses and personal coaches, I’ve never set a daily goal like this before. I’m not at all sure I can succeed at this audacious goal, but I’ll be back in a month to report on my degree of success and what my specific challenges were.
Of course what’s audacious to me might sound mundane or easy to you – or to my bud and fellow Risk a Day blogger Melissa Dickson Blackburn, who mentioned in her January 1st blog that she’s written 150 poems recently. (I am so jealous. And inspired. )
So what’s a daily goal that you could set that seems audacious but could move you closer to your best life?
Kory Wells would like to say she brazenly tossed aside her twenty-year career as a software developer to forge a lucrative career in poetry. She’s content to report that she now writes poetry, prose, corporate communications, and the occasional snippet of software code in a life-work balance that functions pretty well most of the time. Author of the poetry collection Heaven Was the Moon, she’s been recognized by Ladies’ Home Journal for her “standout” writing in the anthology She’s Such a Geek. Visit Kory's website.
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I love this idea. I think it’s wise that you gave yourself a couple of days off each week also. Time off renews energy. I’ll go along with you and set an audacious goal of 5 new, creative pieces of pottery (either the piece or the decorating technique or both) for one month.
I can’t wait to get started.
Go Kory! You are inspiring me… and, although you did not say it in your post, I have inferred an important bit of wisdom: It’s not about committing to write a “perfect” poem each day. Or a “long” poem. Or a {fill-in-the-blank-with-whatever-poem-stopping-ideal} poem each day.
Hmmmmm… I am just thinking I could commit to exercising each day based on this wisdom, yes!!
Just the IDEA of a daily goal gives me the heebie-jeebies! OMG. Seriously. I’m so in awe of your audaciousness!!
So…what can I commit to? Well, here’s something that I’ve been dancing around for months now…blogging. I will commit to a blog post a day split between my 4 blogs – 2/week on 3 of them, and once a week on the 4th one.
Oh Lord, I feel the hair on the back of my neck starting to stand up already…
Breathe, Suz…just breathe…
I can do this. More than that, I really WANT to do this.
And thank you, Martha, because you’re absolutely correct – I’m not committing to “perfect” or “long” or “fill-in-the-blank-with-whatever-blog-post-stopping-ideal” blog posts. Bless you for pointing that out.
Lori, Martha, Suzanne: It gives me energy just to think of you all making pottery and exercising and blogging along with me while I’m writing poetry. And you’re VERY right, Martha – this is about showing up, not about producing something that’s perfect. I’m thrilled to report I got most of a new poem drafted at lunch today! Thank you all for your comments and your sisterhood in audaciousness!
Me, too! Me, too! I don’t know yet WHAT it’ll be, but I want to play, too! Seriously, you gals ROCK! love, me
I never said they were good poems, Kory! GO!
This is such a great blog and such a great idea. I once committed to writing a draft of a new poem every day to prime my pump for the rest of my writing day. It worked great while it lasted. But just because I couldn’t meet the challenge long-term, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a worthy goal or that I shouldn’t try it again. Some of those daily drafts became published poems. No effort is ever really wasted. I’m going to gear up to write a love poem a day during the month of February.
A love poem a day? Well, I love that idea, Darnell! And I can personally attest that you always have a lot of good ideas for priming the pump. Check back in and let Risk a Day readers know how it goes!
Update on my own progress: I should have 5 poems by now; I have 3. But 2 are pretty near finished; I got stuck on one and couldn’t give it up. No matter what the count, it feels great to have my mind back in a creative groove.
Kory, I love this concept. When I was thinking of my resolutions for 2010, I had a long list that seemed overwhelming and impossible to implement all at once. So I looked at what the overarching theme was. That became my goal, but in order to get there, I needed to develop some habits to help me be that person. I decided that in 2010, I would have at least one habit per month that I wanted to develop to help me reach my goal. This month, my habit is to write morning pages.
Congratulations on your progress!
Tessa, I’m going to put you on my list of audacious goal heroes! I’d love to hear what you’re planning for future months. Hope those morning pages go well.
Kory,
I want to congratulate you on your AUDACIOUS goal. I love the idea and have even embraced it myself!
You will do well with your goal and should congratulate yourself for each day you write. It is easy to give into the gremlin (that negative voice) and not commend yourself for a job well done.
Before reading your post, I committed to submit a blog post for each day to help me build my success habits over the next year. What I have learned from my personal commitment is that sometimes you are less than perfect and may miss a day, but there is no reason to stop progress because of a bump in the road. Push through to imperfect action.
I absolutely agree, BevAnn – I am NOT making my daily goal every day. Although a part of me is hoping for a come-from-behind 9th inning push to get me back to my overall goal of 23 poems, the important thing is that the goal has gotten my head back into the game! Good luck with your own audacious daily blogging!
[...] A Daily Audacious Goal: Can I Do It? Can You? Twice in recent months, I’ve heard people mention a commitment to daily goals which struck me as totally audacious. First, my mentor Bill Brown mentioned that he and his friend Jeff Hardin were writing and exchanging a new poem EVERY DAY. That’s my emphasis, not Bill’s. Every day? How in the world? I thought. Read more [...]