Your Success

Me signing books at the launch of The Universe is a Small Place

This is my second week back at work after a whole month of holidays. The holidays have been wonderful. Moz and I have done a lot of decluttering and house maintenance and I’ve even spent some time in the garden! I’ve also spent a lot of time reading, watching TV and knitting. It’s been truly restful and rejuvenating and now it’s time to get back into things.

All that to say that I know I’m a month late for new years resolutions, but I’ve recently started thinking hard and properly about my goals for the year. And about the systems I need to put in place to enable me to reach my goals, because simply stating goals does not magically make them happen. Sorry to break that to you. I might say more about that later.

First though, I need to make sure that my goals are for me, and not some shiny ideal that suits someone else but will never be something I can do.

I need a version of a successful year that fits me. 

I know a whole range of successful people. Their success, their goals, even their idea of failure is very different from mine. Some of them have lives that you might think are close to mine – other authors, for example, but even then, their success and mine are very different things.

Here are some examples of my goals for this year:

1) To finish a first draft of my new novel. 

I know some authors who are aiming to write three or four novels this year. For some of them, that’s a slow down on what they normally produce. But for me, the first draft of one novel is enough to aim for. I learned from the last novel that slower is better for me. I took three years to write and edit The Universe is a Small Place and it turned out so good (even if I do say so myself). If I rush through the writing process, I don’t make novels I’m proud of. So I’m going at the speed that suits me and trying to get the first draft finished by the end of the year.

2) To finish and publish my nonfiction book and workbook

I am hoping to build into my business the ability to run courses, to run workshops and to do more public speaking. For this to happen, I need to make a tool that I can take with me and sell to my audiences. That tool is a book (working title Your Mission and Making Time to Do It) and an activity workbook to go with it. This book is about half-finished already, so I’m going to keep slogging and try to have it complete and published for the new year resolution rush next year. Again, I know other authors who have completed something like this in a couple of months, or who already have an online course or something like that. But for me, getting this book complete this year is enough.

3) To run 5 km in under half an hour. 

Last year, I got my 5 km run down to about 45 minutes. This year, I want to do better. I also want to get to this goal at a sustainable pace. I want to do it, yes, but I don’t want to hurt myself while trying. I had a few small knee issues last year, so this year I’m slowing down the progress a bit so that the small issues don’t turn into big knee issues. My running is slow, and my goal is something that so many others can already do with ease. But it is my fitness goal and if I achieve it, I’m going to count it a great success.

I have other plans for the year too, in other areas of my life. I was hesitant to share even these three goals, because I don’t want you to do any comparison. The main thing I want you to take away from today’s blog is that you need your own goals. 

These are my own goals. They suit my idea of success. They suit my life, my circumstances, my abilities, my energy levels, my interests and my personality. I am pretty sure that your goals for your life are completely different. I want you to make goals that suit the season of life you are in, that suit your personality, your abilities. I want you to aim for your own success.

I hope you can see from these concrete examples how someone else’s success (four novels this year) and my success (one first draft finished) are so different but no less valuable. You may be thinking of writing this year too, and your goal might be just starting, brainstorming, or getting the first 500 words written. That’s great! It’s not my success but that doesn’t make it of any less worth.

The same with my fitness goal. You might be gearing up to run a marathon, or you might be aiming to move your body for 10 minutes each day, or anything in between. That’s great! Your success is yours, mine is mine. They are both valuable.

What I hope you take home from this blog is that you need goals and an idea of success that suits you. Not something that your neighbour or someone you follow on insta or your parent or your good friend from school calls success. Something that is yours.

I encourage you to look over your list of goals, whether you’ve taken the time to write them out, or whether they are just held loosely in your mind, and check that they are goals that suit you. Think about why you are trying to achieve what you’re working on, and make sure that the reasons are worthy reasons. You might find that you need to slow down on some things, and prioritise others. You might find that you can drop a particular goal because you realise that you’re aiming for it for the wrong reason. You might want to aim for something new, something that excites you and will get you out of bed in the morning. Something that no one else in your life has even tried to achieve.

Would you like to share with me what you’re aiming for this year? You can write to me at ruth@ruthamos.com.au or tweet me @aquietlifeblog or find me on Facebook at Ruth Amos Author. I’d love to hear from you!

You can sign up to my newsletter at ruthamos.com.au to find out how I’m going with my goals as the year goes on, to receive links to my podcast and blog, and hopefully first dibs on my new book when it comes out towards the end of the year.