Creative Journal Writing:
Online Writing Course with Creative Writing Lessons
Write A Way: Journey to Creativity
Set priorities for your goals. A major part of successful living lies in the ability to put first things first. Indeed, the reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.
~ Robert J. McKain
Goals: Setting A Structure for Our Creative Lives
By Sandra Lee Schubert
In
my last column,
I talked about giving up goal setting for at least a month. How did it go? If you were like me it may have been a little difficult to put aside goals. After all we look to them to guide us. Goals provide a structure to our life. You may have discovered that the goals you had coveted the most lost their appeal when the spotlight was taken off them. We can hang onto a cherished goal long past its time. All our hopes and dreams go into this goal, once achieved it will change our lives, make us money and finally we can be happy.
Did the time away from your goals give you some clarity about which ones are important to keep and which ones can be tossed?
The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
~ Denis Watley
I recently finished reading Robert Fritz's book,
Your Life as Art.
Fritz takes the fluff out of goal setting and puts it into perspective. There is no wishful thinking here. It is all straight-forward stuff. Goals done right can create momentum in your artistic life.
Personally, I was looking to take the emotional turmoil out of creating goals. When I don't meet a set goal it becomes a reflection of my character. Clearly I am a failure if there is no check mark next to my to-do list. Could I create a life where I could work steadily toward my goals and not be distracted by an emotional state?
Setting Goals
There are lots of things I would like to do. Ideas bubble around in my head. I don't fulfill them all. I can't. I am also slow about it. I know people who get an idea and within weeks that idea is brought into fruition. I think you have to honor your creative process. At the same time, it is important not to procrastinate. Make sure you don't just keep to a goal as a way to prevent you from doing anything else.
I am going to give you the 2 minute version of what Robert Fritz suggests for goal setting. The important part of this goal-setting process is creating structural tension. The tension is created by establishing your goal, acknowledging current reality and establishing action steps towards your goal. His book goes into greater detail and lays out the patterns that may prevent you from fulfilling your goals.
Structural tension is a fundamental principle in the creative process. In fact, part of your job as a creator is to form this tension. ~ Robert Fritz,
Your Life as Art
What do you really want? Think about it. What do you deeply desire?
Take a blank piece of paper and draw a box along the top. The top box will be your goal. At the bottom of the page will be the box for your current reality. All the space in-between will be your action steps. See the sample below.
Goal: A successful e-book on the senses. The e-book produces sales of the e-book, my course and other products I develop.
- Add edits to e-book
- Check layout of text
- Research places to promote e-book
- Fix blog site and add link for e-book
Current Reality: E-book is mostly done. Peer review has been done. Edits needed to be added, graphics, personal references into individual chapters.
Artists like to live in the moment.
Setting a structure for our creative lives seems to contradict the spontaneity of creativity. Successful artists live quite nicely within a structure. They work hard at their craft. They are both spontaneous and disciplined in obtaining goals. A well-planned artistic life allows for both to exist without conflict. When we work steadily towards our goals we can achieve great things.
Creative Journal Writing Prompts
- Choose a creative goal that you would like to work on. Review your current reality and create your action steps.
- Take a few minutes each day to write and to work towards your goals.
- Take advantage of the warming weather and go outside. Write what you see, smell and can touch.
Sandra Schubert is the creator and instructor for the Self-Healing Expressions online writing course
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own.
This creative journal writing course features interactive Web Tools. To learn more about Sandra and her
creative journal writing course,
click here:
Copyright © 2007 Sandra Lee Schubert. All rights reserved. If you are interested in publishing this article, please email
.
