Creative goals, free of assumptive targets
Give yourself the gift of going through this exercise, for real
Today, let’s write about our goals, dreams and plans, deeply and fully about everything in your heart and mind about what you want to do in this life.
But, there is a caveat.
I want you to scrutinize your list of/writing about your goals very carefully for what I call assumptive targets. An assumptive target is, in essence, a target attached to your goal in which it is assumed what you are supposed to want from it. A goal’s finish line, decided by rote.
For example: if you’re a writer, perhaps an assumptive target might be that it’s assumed you want to write a bestseller. Or, if you’re an actor, maybe the assumptive target is that its assumed you want to win an Oscar and get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And maybe that conclusion is so assumed that even you assume that’s what you’re supposed to want.
And, maybe you do. But maybe you don’t, or, the more likely scenario, if you really interrogate the idea, what you want from your goal or dream is actually far more nuanced. Not bigger or smaller or even necessarily different, but more nuanced, more you. You probably don’t dream of just, say, seeing your byline in The New York Times, but perhaps something more like seeing your byline in The New York Times Opinion section on an op-ed connected to an issue deeply important to your life’s work. That’s very different. One is checking a box by any means necessary even if by kind of un-fun means you’ll actually hate doing; the other could be tremendously meaningful to you and game changing in terms of legacy-building work.
So, that’s the task today. Get into your goals and plans and be very, very specific about what you (and only you!) really, really want from those goals. Take ego out of it. Take social expectations out of it. Take familial obligations out of it. Write deeply into the truest target of each goal for you and notice how your goals might shift a little, or come into deeper focus, or expand, or suddenly seem far closer in reach. (Personally, I think this activity is like a secret Midas touch to goals—when you’re that clear and that in-sync with the truest-for-you target, it’s almost eerie how things in your world start to organize themselves around it.)
Very related to this topic: today is the last day to enroll in my group coaching program at a steep discount. In there, we work together to dig deep into creative work to help you build the resource of visibility for yourself and your work and put it to work for you. Think of it as a method to build a sort of flywheel for your creative work’s impact and think of me as your creative work therapist/hype-woman. (Read about it and the ways to access it here.)
The 25% discount and all the bonuses end tonight, and the overall introductory pricing is going up substantially in December, so if you’re into it and have been meaning to enroll: carpe diem. If you want to talk about it first and make sure it’s the right thing for you right now, as long as you book a spot on my calendar by tonight, I’ll honor the discount and bonus goodies for you for you until we have a chance to discuss. (Book a time to talk here.)
