Take a jump!

I need to jump. Plodding along politely doesn’t always work for me. I slip into routine and autopilot. Frustration and restless energy builds, making my mind and habits skitter sideways. I need an occasional fierce, ridiculously, ambitious goal to explode me into motion.

Pushing outside our comfort zones flakes the rust off our shoulders. It shakes the dust off our boots. It forces us to stretch, reach, pull a bit harder. Taking a big dramatic jump in any direction changes our perspective and potentially our position. It certainly shifts up our energy.

My passion is full-length novels. These lie scattered about in a state of disrepair — wheels off, pieces missing, covered in weeds, sedated by the long slow drone of crickets. I have the parts required to complete quite a few, I just haven’t invested the time in piecing them together. Those that are complete stand in a raw, un-edited state.

I enjoy writing this blog. I enjoy doing workshops and studying. I enjoy creating short stories. I enjoy these things so much I dance around these bigger projects and they remain exactly how they were last week, last month and last year. Eventually the grass will grow over them and they’ll become pretty hills in the distance.

The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.

My plan is to finish four full-length pieces by the end of 2020. When I started this plan back in May, I had eight months. So I called the plan, unimaginatively, my “Four in Eight.”

It normally takes me years to finish a full-length piece. I pick and peck at it every few months. It takes another few years poking about at it, half-heartedly editing. Pushing four mostly finished projects across the finish line will be a marathon. I am proud to say as I type these words I have finished the first project and I am elbow deep in the gory guts of the second.

You can move mountains by:

1. Mapping out the exact steps required to complete each project

2. Allocating time for each step. I have a separate card (a startling chemical green card) on the wall for each project, with date deadlines for when each task needs to be completed. These goals are fierce and ambitious. I need a fire under my feet.

3. Focusing on one project at a time. Each project has around 2 months, depending on how much work needs to be done. There is no grace period between cards. I need to catch any lost ground — fast.

4. Marking deadlines: I set warnings on when things are due (ie “final scene due two weeks”, “final scene due one week”). Life happens. Plans go askew and wander out the door, but I can juggle my week to make something happen if I have enough notice.

5. Investing resources — I organised time off work, taking a long weekend here and there and going completely offline. This last ‘writing retreat’, I did 32 hours of writing projects across four days to catch up lost ground. I need a long weekend for each project because I need to immerse myself in the project to finish it. Pecking at it when the mood takes me means it takes years to finish something.

6. Rewards — as I finish each card I buy myself something ridiculous. Nooo, not a sports car, something that fits within my modest budget but is more extravagant than I would normally spend.

7. Consequence — if I miss the final deadline on a card there’s no dessert until I catch up. For me, this is a huge incentive!

Self-discipline and self-control are channels down which my energy naturally flows and intensifies. I don’t need anyone else involved, or anyone checking up on me. Committing to do something and setting it in writing with reminders is enough for me.

Different strategies work for different people. Most of us are old enough to know ourselves pretty damn well — our strengths, weaknesses and excuses.

Unless my world shifts dramatically, this will be done by December/January. These projects are embarrassingly close to completion and have sat in that state for a very long time. They will still be sitting in this condition in a year’s time unless I do something dramatic.

Where could a jump take you? What new energy would it bring? What new perspectives and landscapes could you enjoy if you took a dramatic, fierce, deliberate leap outside of your comfort zone?

First published on my website https://nicolewalshauthor.com/ on 9 July 2020