goal setting | Words For Hire

Canada, Border Crossings and Your Route to Success

January 4, 2010 by Karen Swim

The Davis family drove from Michigan to Canada for the weekend. Like many Michiganders, Canada was a frequent getaway for the family. They knew the route and they had visited many times in the past. Yet, this trip was different. In the past, Michigan residents were able to cross the border and return with nothing more than state identification. However, the rules have changed, and you must now have special identification. The family had entered Canada with no problem. However, when they reached the crossing to head home, they found their familiar route blocked by a new rule.

: Image by Sentrawoods. via Flickr

In 2009, many people felt like the Davis family at the gate. You were motoring along on familiar roads believing you had the proper paperwork and just as you saw the goal, the home stretch in site, your progress was halted by a rule change.

Some of you crawled under the gate, others motored through it and some may have tried to reason with the obstruction to grant you passage. Whatever choice you made, I’m happy to inform you that you can now cross over.

It is a brand new decade. Last year, the rules changed and this year there may be addendums but in this new decade you control the path. You can adjust your strategy, and route or you can wait until mercy or an immunity period allows you to pass.

Rule changes are part of the game but if you mentally prepare for them they do not have to interrupt your journey. What stood in your way last year and how could you have solved it better/faster or avoided it completely? What changes can happen this year that would slow your speed or worse bring you to a full stop? Your roadmap to success must have alternate routes. Planning for delays or even failures is essential.

On this first Monday check your supplies and your route and make sure that you are ready to go the distance or you may find yourself struggling to prove you really belong on the road.

Note: The names of the family have been changed to protect them from my creative liberties but the story is based on fact, or more accurately the facts as they were related to me and then filtered through my own storytelling perception. If you enjoy the liberty taking and the post, please visit again.

How Well Do You Run the Turn?

June 29, 2009 by Karen Swim

: Image via Wikipedia

I watched as the runners lined up in the blocks. Down on all fours pushing one leg back, rising again, shaking legs and arms to keep the body warm. Eyes flitted toward the finish line as they replayed their race strategy in their mind. Down again, hands out front, one leg back waiting for the starting gun.

The gun went off and the runners took off like hungry tigers let out of a cage. The air was charged with the electricity of competition as their cleats tapped a steady smooth beat on the hot red clay. Some got off to a fast start, others measured the pace patiently waiting to overtake their competition. As they approached the turn, I knew that this is where the race would be won or lost. Anyone could start fast or kick at the end, but in this race, the one who navigated the turn while maintaining speed and balance would win the race.

With a strong wind at her back, her jaw muscles relaxed as she leaned at the perfect angle navigating the turn with the speed of a sprinter and grace of a ballerina. Her gaze remained steady as she glided to an easy victory.

We often compare life to a marathon but in fact it is a series of short races. Each day, we see the finish line, and know the distance it will take to reach it. We plan our race strategy and choose a pace that we can sustain. We all have the capability to get off to a fast start or kick it at the end to reach the finish line. We can dig deep for that short burst down a straight path, but the race is often determined by how well you run the turn.

Lean too hard and you’ll throw off your balance. Slow down to take the turn and you lose momentum. Look to the right or left to judge your competitors and you lose it all. Taking the turn requires a combination of focus, strength, speed and agility.

How well are you running the turn?

Novel Beginnings

June 25, 2009 by Karen Swim

Last November, I wrote my very first novel during National Novel Writing Month. I chronicled my adventures on the blog and did a happy dance on Thanksgiving Eve in the wee hours when I finished.

I dutifully walked away as experts advised and let it sit for the month of December. In January, I thought about it but was busy implementing the 2009 Master Plan (cue ominous music).

Spring came and I finally took my USB drive to the printer and printed out my first draft. I giggled all the way home as I looked over at the box of printed papers that represented my first “first draft.”

Later that day I opened the box with nervous anticipation – Would it be so awful that I would cry? Was the whole thing a big dream? – I started to read and smiled as I found myself enjoying “my novel.” Yes, there were holes and inconsistencies, and things to be fixed but overall I did not want to burn it.

Each day I opened my box and made notes on the pages, periodically checking books and sites on editing to answer questions. I was working at my book and it felt good.

I got through my first rough edit and now it was time to type. I closed the box with every intention of continuing my work…the box taunted me in the open so I moved it to a shelf. I moved it to dust but there it sat until this week.

Tired of my inaction, I pulled my dust free box off the shelf and moved it to my office where it sits with “First Draft” written proudly on the top (as if I would forget what’s in there) screaming at me to open it. Okay, not screaming but whispering very loudly.

: Image by bredgur via Flickr

In spite of our best intentions, we can get off track. For awhile I felt like a failure for not making progress on my goal. Today, I choose a new beginning. I may have missed my own self-imposed deadline but I learned new things and endured challenges which can only help me to view my book with a fresh perspective.

Today is a new day. Today is the day that I write again. I am not finished but I am getting started.

Any words of wisdom to share? Are you dusting off any goals of your own? Shall we encourage one another to the finish line?