The #1 Way to Stay Focused on Your Goals in 2019
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I had the strangest dream last night. In the dream I was sitting at the kitchen table at my parent’s house complaining that I couldn’t seem to focus on accomplishing any of my current goals. In addition, I was stressed because I didn’t know how to build a platform as a writer.
(Did I mention my dreams often reflect the EXACT stressors that I’m having in my life that day? Makes falling asleep especially fun and easy.)
Anyway, I was raffling off a bunch of different “hacks” and tricks like creating paintings, making comedy Youtube videos, and other completely random activities that I thought would bring more eyes to my blog. Once I had made my way through at least 5 of these and paused to catch my breath, my mom looked at me and asked inquisitively, “I thought you wanted to be a writer?”
I don’t remember many more details of the dream, but that quote stuck out to me so much that I woke up at 4 in the morning, and wrote it down. Why? Because it was a reminder to focus on my goals first. Because I want to build a sustainable second income and create my own blog so badly, I often waste several hours a week worrying about how to get a bigger following instead of actually writing.
Before worrying about subsidiary things like getting a huge social media following, becoming rich, or getting abs, (whatever your goals for 2019 may be) be sure that you are really focusing on putting in the work.
Focus on the work, not the result.
Becoming a writer or blogger in 2019 can be very discouraging. Many (most) platforms do not pay their writers for the work they submit, and it seems like so many consumers are looking for quick bites of information from Instagram or Twitter posts and tweets as opposed to long form essays or blog posts.
Lack of “success” on social media platforms has always been a big source of discouragement for me, and I’m sure that if you are reading this, you have your own triggers and barriers to staying focused on your goals.
For example, I made Youtube videos for at least 3 years, and I would spend about 6–8 hours a week editing videos. The issue? I actually despise video editing; I find it extremely tedious and draining. But I suffered through it because I love Youtube as a platform, and I wanted to bring more attention to my writing through the videos I was creating.
Looking back, I realize that I was hardly spending any time writing during this period even though that was my real goal.
In short, to avoid distractions in 2019, set your goals (use the 5/25 Rule for inspiration if needed), and then set a time limit for how long you will focus on each goal before branching out to other stuff.
If you want to create art for example, then maybe set a goal to just create for a month with no distractions. Then after the month is up, focus on posting your work to social media, or selling it on etsy if that is your goal.
Again, the best way to obtain results is to limit distractions, and focus on the work fist.
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