If you know me well, you know that each year I have a new theme. My life is a work in progress and I’m always on a quest to squeak out just a little more juice from the orange.
2015 was the year that I discovered Goddesses Never Age by Christiane Northrup, M.D. I’ve always enjoyed listening to her wisdom. But, what has become known as “the goddess book” in my circle, really changed my way of thinking, especially now that I’m feeling my age. I have found any excuse to gift this book to other women in my life. It’s that life-changing. Get a copy today. I’m serious.
2016 was the year of not giving a f*ck. I did read Marie Kondo’s decluttering book. I’m not a natural hoarder so my friends got a chuckle out of me further simplifying. What can I say? I really don’t like “stuff”.
But even better than the decluttering book was Sarah Knight’s parody, The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*uck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have with People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do.
It goes without saying that if you don’t like the eff word, then stay away from this book. But if you have an open mind and are able to grasp the bigger concept, then I can’t recommend this book enough.
This book made me realize just how much time I was wasting worrying about ridiculous things that simply don’t matter. We all spend far too much time worrying about what other people think of us and not enough considering what we think of ourself compared to … ourself. Where are we on our own life’s journey?
Last year was the year that I set aside other peoples’ opinions of me and focused on what I wanted out of my life. Boy, was that life changing!
Well, I have a new mission for 2017!
This year continues with more from Sarah Knight: Get Your Sh*t Together: How to Stop Worrying about What You Should Do So You Can Finish What You Need to Do and Start Doing What You Want to Do. (I think we can all agree that Sarah likes long titles.)
I have both the DTB (dead tree book) and audio version of this book as well as the super cool prize promo pack from Little Brown. Thank you, Little 
Brown!
I’m not going to ramble about this book or write a review. Instead, I’m going to focus on what I got out of it and how it has already impacted my life.
The biggest thing for me was taking a look at my already crazy busy life and finding ways to make more time for the things that I want (e.g. writing). My life almost always feels like it’s spinning out of control, and I’m constantly treading water just to keep my head barely above the surface.
But I want more. I really do want this writing thing to take off and become a thing for me.
So I had to get my sh*t together this year. It was either that or just give up.
Action
I joined a secret Facebook writing group that is all about creating a habit of writing every single day. It’s not focused on the number of words written or even the quality of those words. It’s about showing up every single day and putting your butt in the chair and fingers on the damn keyboard.
The admins of this group have outdone themselves. They have created the most elaborate Excel spreadsheet for hundreds of people to track their progress every single day. We are divided into smaller accountability groups with a leader who monitors and pokes us when needed. They also cheer us on every. single. day.
We are supposed to record our daily word count along with the number of hours spent editing our own work or critiquing others.
Here’s my breakdown for January:
Daily goal: 600 words
Days wrote: 22 out of 31
Total words for January: 12,773 (goal 18,600)
Highest day: 1,838 Lowest day: 27
Now, I could look at those numbers and cringe that I let 9 days go by without writing a single word. Not even one. But I’m not going to cringe. Nope.
How does #gyst play into this? If it wasn’t for me reading that book in December and setting a personal goal to do this, I might not have even written the 12,773 words I did complete in January.
#gyst has forced me to look at my day in a whole new way. I have reprioritized the things that I do so that even 5 minutes here and there can be spent writing words.
For example, it’s amazing just how many words I can write on my phone while blow drying my hair. I’m not kidding! (And, yes, I do have a lot of hair)
Where else have I found time to write: in the car (dictating into my phone), lunch break (5 minutes), 5-10 minutes before I pick up my son from school, getting up 30 minutes earlier, and of course before bed.
If you have a dream that seems to be growing stagnant, or is waving to you in your periphery saying, “Look over here! Look at me! We can do this!”… don’t ignore it. If you need a push, find an accountability partner. If you’re not sure how to make it happen, grab a copy of this book, and I promise it’ll help you view your time and days in a whole new way.
Spring has come to Georgia. I know this because of these yellow beauties that have popped up in my yard. I also know that spring has arrived because of the large 30-count box of Claritin sitting in my kitchen. That sign is almost more powerful than the flowers. Spring in Georgia…need I say more. <cough cough>
Next Saturday, I’ll attend the Atlanta Writing Workshop and I am beyond excited! No, this isn’t the first writing workshop I’ve attended. But it is the first where I’ll be pitching my story to agents.
ajuddwriter.com 