Note 347 – A writer’s decision to change direction

Goal (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee - Flickr)

The point that I bounced around yesterday was that when you are reviewing the writing challenges you have set yourself (or any type of challenge for that matter) you should feel confident about changing your direction.  It feels good to commit yourself to something you love doing and then pour all your time and effort into it, but not so good when it starts to feel like a chore.  

In his book Flight Plan, Brian Tracy says that you should keep your mind clear by practising zero-based thinking at all times. This is the concept I hinted about at the end of yesterday’s post.  He says to ask yourself the following question:

“Based on this new information, if I were not now doing this, knowing what I now know, would I start it up again?” 

If the answer is no, he suggests making changes immediately and then putting yourself back on track to achieving your goal.  It’s a sign of a strong person who can admit mistakes, make course corrections and change direction.  He says that some people see this as a sign of weakness or incompetence; however, if you just admit that things need to change and not be so hard on yourself about it, you can change direction easier.

Be flexible

Behind every challenge is a goal.  It’s important to make sure that you are still aiming at the goal you like the look and feel of, and remember to regularly examine the path you are taking to get there.  I still like the look of my goal, and although I set myself a very tight challenge, I’m pleased that I have stuck with it.  I received some very encouraging comments after yesterday’s post (thank you) which made me realise how much I have achieved, even though I feel exhausted from doing it every day. 

Brian Tracy’s rule is “be clear about your goal, but be flexible about the process of achieving it”.

I love that rule!  I think I’m going to write it down in big bold letters and stick it up on my wall somewhere!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra
www.sandramadeira.com
19 days of My Writing Challenge to go…

Related articles

• Note 346 – Reviewing writing challenges and goals (mywritingnotebook.com)
• The Goals Achievement Expert, Brian Tracy, Brings Answers on Achieving Goals Faster and Easier To The Leading Working Moms Community (prweb.com)
• Note 338 – My blog is my frog… (mywritingnotebook.com)