The Creativity Project: Staying on Track
Putting systems in place to create deadlines where there aren’t any.
I make no secret that if I didn’t have a deadline, I wouldn’t get anything accomplished. Which makes my journey to being a self published author all the more difficult because there really are no outside deadlines. Just the ones I create.
This was always the problem with New Years Resolutions. Technically, they did have a deadline, but it was so far away as to be useless. The same could be said for 101 Things in 1001 Days. Even further in the future.
I would always start off strong, but by the second or third month, I would fizzle out. And I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I set SMART goals, or so I thought.
It got a little bit better when I discovered Bullet Journaling, but then I got sucked down into the rabbit hole of having to make my journal super artsy. I’m not great at drawing, so that was an exercise in futility. I would stop and start while not getting very far on my goals.
That is until I discovered the HB90 method by Sarra Cannon. This system forces you to really look at your time and schedule for life. It breaks the year down into the four quarters which allows you to adjust when life goes off the rails.
Like everything I use (*cough* Scrivener *cough*), I don’t use all the features, just what works for my life. I love the brain dump, but I don’t touch the time blocking aspect. I’m now at the point where I know just about how many words I can type in a day without pushing myself to burn out. So I don’t need to fuss with it.
I also use a Kanban board to visually keep track of my writing goals. It helps push me to keep moving because I want to move the next post it note down the board, but it also helps me see in real time if I’m keeping up with my goals. Depending on the category, I know I can move a post it every two to three days. So if it’s been a week and I haven’t move one, I’ve been slacking.
This forces me to have deadlines every quarter instead of every year. Nothing sucks worse than missing a goal because you slacked when you had the time to complete it.
I also break down my goals into monthly incriments. This allows me to get even more granular about what I’m doing and when. And those monthly goals get broken down into weekly tasks.
And then I put into place a huge accountability tracker in a very public place. I set a goal of publishing my first novel this year and made a YouTube channel to document the journey. A journey anyone can follow, so now I can’t quit and I have to stay on track.
Which means I need to lean heavily on the systems I have in place to get me there. Maybe implement a few new ones if I need them.
What do you use to keep yourself on track? Is there something I’m missing in my journey that will make everything fall into place? Let me know in the comments!
