SALE ALERT: Your Best Year 2017 Goal Setting Workbook

Hey y'all! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and break. I'm back at it and will be buried in writing all month since I have an end of the month book deadline, but I wanted to pop in to let you know about a great sale going on today.

If you follow this blog regularly, you know that I'm all about the planners, goal-setting, and productivity. And the end of one year, beginning of another is always the logical time to do some review of what's worked and what hasn't and then make new goals going forward. This past year I used a goal-setting workbook called Your Best Year by Lisa Jacobs. 

This is not a traditional day planner. This is specifically a goal-setting workbook for people running a small business. It's not specific to writers, but I find it fits well for that. There are exercises to fill out that help you evaluate the past year--what's worked, what hasn't, the whys. Then it leads you through setting goals and habits for the next year. After that, it's a month by month guide of setting goals, evaluating them as you go, and adjusting as needed. 

I've found this system really helpful for me. Sometimes by the end of the year, it can feel like nothing worked because we're all tired and a little burnt out. But being able to look back at what I set as goals for the year in January helps me to see--oh, hey, I did accomplish some of this. It also helps me see the areas I'm still struggling in. Overall, it's a great exercise in mindfulness and thinking strategically about life and work.

And today for CyberMonday it's 50% off, which makes the download only $7.50. This workbook can be ordered in print or as a download. I like getting the download because then I can put it in my own binder and reprint a page if I mess up something. (By the way, I haven't been asked to feature this and I don't know the author. Just passing along my experience with it.)

So if you're looking to do some goal-setting for 2017, check it out.

There are also some alternatives to this workbook:

If you want something writer specific, Bria Quinlan has created the AuthorLife Planner. This can also be purchased as a print book or download. I haven't gotten a copy of this one yet, but lots of my friends have been raving about it. I believe there are exercises in the front and then it has an actual planner in the back with dates/calendars.

If you're not an author and not running a business but want to set personal goals, I've heard a lot about the Powersheets workbook. I haven't ordered these and they're on the pricier side (the spiral bound book is $55) but they seem to get great reviews and are very pretty. If you end up going this route, let me know what you think! I'm curious. :)

UPDATE: I ended up buying the Powersheets and I'm really impressed with them. Functional and lovely. :) (And yes, I have no willpower to resist these things, lol.)

All right, now I'm off to the writing cave.

Anyone into yearly goal-setting? Have you used this type of workbook before? What method do you use?

Creating Mottos for Your Year and Your Sanity

I've mentioned here before that I am a pantser (write by the seat of my pants) not a plotter (plan the whole story ahead.) But that's not entirely the case. The vital thing I need to know before I start a story are my characters' inner workings. I need to KNOW them. All the good stuff. All the ugly stuff. Like a therapist doing a an in depth history. Otherwise, I inevitably hit writer's block early on. I'm character-driven and need to know how they'll react in a situation, what their motivations are, what happened in their past to create who they are today. And one way I get to know them is by figuring out their motto. I learned this trick from one of Michael Hauge's classes. His character stuff is the main structure I go to for developing my characters. I've used it for years.

So, for instance, in my current work in progress, my heroine's motto is "Get them before they get me." Now, that's not the healthiest outlook, and it's creating some problems for her. But it helps me to know how she's going to react when thrown into a scene. For her, that often means she's mean and defensive. That, of course, will have to change if she wants her happy ending. But now I know what her internal journey is going to involve. How can she get past that fear of being hurt again? What does she need to do to get there?

But as I've gotten into the habit of doing this exercise for my characters, I realized it can be a helpful exercise for real life, too. We all have mottos that probably guide us on a large, life level. Everything happens for a reason. Go into things with an open heart. Let go and let God. Live and let live. YOLO. Whatever it is, it's our outlook on life. That's not what I'm talking about today. Those are big and hard to change. But there are other layers of our life where mottos or mantras can come into play--smaller ones that maybe characterize what you want your year to look like, how you want to approach your business, how you want to parent.

As I've talked about recently, 2015 was a stressful year for me. So I've spent a lot of time trying to get 2016 off to a better, calmer, more organized start. And in doing that, I realized that I've picked some little mantras to keep me on track this year. These aren't ones I created myself but things I've read elsewhere and that resonated with me enough that I wrote it down and pinned it to my computer monitor.

My keep-me-sane Mottos for 2016

If the answer isn't "Hell yes!", it's no.

I can't find the original source for the quote, but it's everywhere. And this is in direct contrast to what I've been doing for the last few years to build my career. When you're starting out, you feel the need to say yes to every opportunity that comes your way. Do you want to guest blog? Do you want to speak at our meeting? Do you want to be in our anthology? Do you want to add short stories to your books? Do you want to try to write more books this year? Yes! Yes! Yes! However, as you get busier and busier over time, this ends up running you into the ground and burning you out. So, my goal this year is to only say yes to the things that really excite me and move the needle on my career. I don't want to get burnt out. And I don't want to end up filling time that could be used for things like writing more books with things that maybe are just time fillers.

Would I say yes if it were tomorrow?

Angela James brought this one up to me when I mentioned the first one. This is a good add on. When someone asks you to do something for a future date, ask yourself, would you want to do it tomorrow? This resonated with me because, like I said, I have a habit of wanting to say yes to everything. And it's especially easy to say yes to things for Future Roni. Present Roni doesn't have to worry about that right now. I can be a total a**hole to future Roni, loading up her schedule without thinking about how she might feel. Then when the day of whatever commitment finally gets there, I'm buried in deadlines or worn out or just wanting to have family time, and now there's this thing that I committed to doing and am now dreading. No more. If I think I'm going to dread something later on, if I wouldn't be excited about doing it tomorrow, I'm not going to add it to my schedule. (This of course only applies to optional things. Obviously, we all have things we dread doing that we MUST do despite the I-don't-wanna's.)

Frustration is a fundamental step in the creative process. 

No matter how many books I've written, I think the idealist in me still expects the next one to go smoothly. This time it's going to be different! The words are just going to fall on the page! Maybe it's like childbirth. You have to forget the pain from the previous one in order to go forward with another one without abject terror. But I have to accept that writing is always going to be hard. In fact, it gets harder every time because I learn more and raise the expectations on myself. Frustration is part of the deal. And Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic, goes even further to say "Frustration is the process." I need to remind myself of that when I inevitably start to struggle with a story.

So those are my three. Not life mottos per se but business, keep-me-sane mottos for this year. And I've already used them. And I can tell you, it's not easy. I still have the kneejerk reaction of wanting to say yes to everything. I'm a work in progress. :)

Do you have any quotes or mottos that keep you focused or that characterize your year?

Friday Reads: Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin (& My 2016 Goals)

Wow, what a week. First, before I get into today's reading pick, I just want to say a big thank you to all of you who have bought, read, posted about, and/or reviewed OFF THE CLOCK this week. I appreciate all the book love so much! And I'm thrilled that so many of you are enjoying it! I'm really excited to continue the series, and hearing your thoughts on who you're hoping to see in future books and such really gets me jazzed up. And for those asking, the next book is going to be about...Lane! :) I start on his story next and I can't wait. And if you haven't gotten your copy yet? What are you waiting for? ;)

BUY THE BOOK:  Amazon  | Barnes and Noble |Books-A-Million |Indie Bound |The Book Depository 

BUY THE EBOOK: Nook | Kindle  | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

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Friday Reads

Okay, so onto today's reading pick. I know that not everyone is a New Year, New Start kind of person. My husband definitely isn't. He thinks it's silly to start something because of a particular point in the calendar. "Just start when you want to start." BUT, I am a person that gets that big sigh of ahh... at the beginning of the year. It's a physical and mental sense of having a fresh start, of renewal, and of all this exciting possibility ahead.

And though this year I thankfully don't have to do the official start-a-diet thing because I've been on the wagon with that since fall and am sticking to it, I do have other goals for the year. The main ones being: Less stress. More intention. More joy.

This last year was a crazy busy one. I said yes to too much and ended up feeling burnt out by October. Writing became a slog, my story was fighting me, I was dreading getting to my desk. That is no bueno. I have my dream job. I don't want to work myself into a rut. I LOVE writing. I don't want to lose the joy of that.

So this year, my main action item is to be much more intentional and structured about my time. I'm going to use my fancy new planner (more on that in another post where I have room to fangirl about my planner. :) ) I am going to block off writing time and turn off the internet during that time. (I need a digital detox in general.) And I'm going to say no to things that will crunch my time too much. 

And all of those things require one thing--forming new habits, which is where today's Friday Reads pick comes in. See? I was getting to the point. Eventually. :)

I've been a fan of Gretchen Rubin's work since The Happiness Project. I like her anecdotal and chatty style and how she breaks down big concepts like happiness and, now, habits.

Better than Before is a quick read and will give you insight into how your personality plays into how you form habits. There are Four Tendencies (of personality) that explain a whole lot. You can read more about the four tendencies on her blog. But I've discovered that I'm an Upholder, meaning I respond readily to inner and outer expectations.

October 2016 Update: I have discovered I've fooled myself with the Upholder thing. Turns out, I'm a Rebel, lol. I figured it out after taking her quiz and listening to her podcasts. Rebels are those who resist inner and outer expectations. 

So though I love, love, love my planner, I have to be careful about writing things down on my To Do list too far ahead because then it feels like an obligation and I want to rebel. I'm doing better tackling my plan at the beginning of each day to determine what I "feel" like doing most and in what order I feel like doing it in. 

There's a lot more in the book about different aspects of your personality and how that fits into habits, so I highly recommend you check it you if you're trying to start some new habits this year. 

About the book:

The author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, tackles the critical question: How do we change? 

Gretchen Rubin's answer: through habits. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.

So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits?

Better than Before answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits—and to change them for good. Infused with Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research, and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, Better than Before explains the (sometimes counter-intuitive) core principles of habit formation. 

Along the way, Rubin uses herself as guinea pig, tests her theories on family and friends, and answers readers’ most pressing questions—oddly, questions that other writers and researchers tend to ignore: 

• Why do I find it tough to create a habit for something I love to do? 

• Sometimes I can change a habit overnight, and sometimes I can’t change a habit, no matter how hard I try. Why? 

• How quickly can I change a habit? 

• What can I do to make sure I stick to a new habit? 

• How can I help someone else change a habit? 

• Why can I keep habits that benefit others, but can’t make habits that are just for me? 

Whether readers want to get more sleep, stop checking their devices, maintain a healthy weight, or finish an important project, habits make change possible. Reading just a few chapters of Better Than Before will make readers eager to start work on their own habits—even before they’ve finished the book.

BONUS FRIDAY PICK:

In addition to Better Than Before, I've also gone through this workbook this week -- Your Best Year by Lisa Jacobs. This is more geared to those who are running a small business or blog or writers like me. But I found it helpful in setting up goals for the year and for looking back at 2015 and analyzing what worked and what didn't. The link is to the paperback, but you can also go directly to her site and pay for a download and print it out yourself to fill out, which is what I did.

 

Reminder:

If you haven't gotten your FREE reading journal (especially designed for romance readers) for the new year, be sure to sign up for my updates. The printable journal will come to your inbox after sign up. :) Click the banner at the top or click here to sign up.

So have you set any goals for 2016? Has anyone read either of these? 

Must Do Monday - The Reasonable Portion of a Bucket List

Typically here, Monday is Must-Read Monday. However, between finishing up my deadline (yay!) and the fact that I'm in the middle of judging books for the RITAs (and can't reveal which I'm judging), I haven't read any new books I can share with you.

So, today I thought I'd change it up a bit and have Must-Do Monday. No, this is not a list of hot mancandy. ;) But rather a list of the things I hope to do or learn at some point. This is not an exhaustive list--we'd be here all day--but some realistic ones I want to tackle.

Photo by Steven Depolo (Flickr cc)

1. Become a tea person

So I was talking about this on Twitter last night, but recently I decided to get off of sweeteners. Since I hate coffee, don't drink soft drinks, and love caffeine, I end up drinking 3-5 glasses of iced tea a day. That's a lot of Sweet N Low. I didn't want to replace it with sugar because that's a lot of calories to add in, so it's pushed me to start looking beyond my basic Lipton black tea and experimenting with different flavors. My current fave combo for iced tea is regular black tea bags, a green tea bag, and Tazo's Wild Orange tea. It gives a great flavor.

However, I know there is a whole world out there of hot tea I haven't explored. Plus, I know there are countless varieties and loose leaf options. So this weekend I bought a kettle, a loose-leaf steeper, and a tin of loose lead Earl Grey (figured I'd start simple.) I also picked up a Red Velvet variety of bag tea. So we shall see. But it would be nice to truly learn about the ritual of tea and experience the different flavors.

Photo by Slawek Puklo (Flickr cc)2. Learn more about photography

I have always been interested in photography. It's one of those creative pursuits I "hope to learn" one day not for career purposes but for a hobby. But especially after my blog photo lawsuit debacle, I now am REALLY interested in learning how to take my own photos. I've gotten a few fun apps on my Iphone, but obviously that's very limited.

And I know a DSLR camera would be the next step, but those are expensive and at this point, I'd have no idea how to operate it. So I feel like I'd need to take a class if I decided to invest in that pricey of a camera. So this one has some cost involved. But I'm still really interested in pursuing it.

Photo by Tony George (Flickr cc)3. Get more advanced in yoga.

I love yoga. It's the only exercise I don't dread. However, I'm still at the beginner stage with most of it. I strive to be able to do the more complicated stuff. And this one is totally on me. The more I do it, the better I'll get. I recently signed up for a membership to My Yoga Online and that's been great. I dropped my gym membership where I used to do yoga because I wasn't able to get over there enough. Now I can get the yoga in my living room (I mirror it to my TV via Apple TV so that I can get it on a bigger screen.) And unlike buying DVDs, this gives me new routines every day so I don't get bored.

So those are my three, mostly achievable Must Do's. What are some of yours?