Set Real Goals To Get Real Results
By: Faylita Hicks
Tags: Life Lessons, Motivation, Creative Writing, Productivity, Work

Every day creatives are faced with the difficult task of surviving — despite a lack of resources or support. Too many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, putting our dreams and desires aside for the urgent needs of NOW. But as creatives, it’s important that we don’t let the pain of LIVING become so distracting that it takes us from our REASON for living.

Trust me. I’ve worked in a call center as a sales agent, in a warehouse as a janitor, at a couple of restaurants, and even played cash poker to make some extra money. While I was switching from job to job, all I could think was — When will it be my turn to win?

It’s normal to feel like you’re all alone on this creative journey but the truth is — you’re not. Don’t believe me?

Make a list of your top ten favorite creators in your focus, then research their bios. You’ll find that more than a few of them had to work some pretty horrible jobs before getting their “BIG BREAK”.

Here’s how we’re going to help you get yours.

Get specific.

One day last summer, while taking a break in the middle of my eight-hour shift as a server at IHOP, I decided it was my turn. I sat down at one of the tables and started to write out my vision for my life — in detail.

I asked myself what my perfect workday looked like, trying to be as specific as possible.

What time did I wake up in the morning? Did I have a home office? Did I have an assistant? Where did I go for lunch? Who did I meet up with or talk to on the phone? How much money was in my bank account? Do I travel? Where to?

Once I answered a ton of questions like these, I tried to simplify the answers by making a vision list. A vision list is pretty much what it sounds like: a list of that describes the kind of life you want to lead one day.

My current vision list now reads something like this:

I will travel to New York, Rome, Columbus, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Vermont and Boston in 2020. I will find a top-tier writing agent that works with a top-tier agency. I will wake up early around 7:30 am and go to bed late around 11:30 pm — but will still be well-rested and have time to visit my friends and family. Opportunities will come quickly and easily to me in the form of essays, interviews, features, poetry, workshops, and public speaking. I will choose which ones to follow up on wisely and always follow through on my promises. I will make a living wage as an artist and writer, at an hourly rate of $xx, and a weekly rate of $xxxx, and a per-event rate of $xxxx. It will six times my current income and will allow me to not only take care of my current bills but also purchase property, a car, and allow me to invest.

Because I am actually working on some of these currently, I took out the names and places and dates — but on your own list, you should be that specific!

The more specific you get, the easier it will be for you to figure out what actions you can take to make it happen.

Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

Writing out these specifics helped me to VISUALIZE the final product. Once I had that clear in my mind, I could start setting some actionable goals that could help me to get where I wanted to be.

Tip: Write out your vision list by hand and carry it with you every day!

Work it out.

Now that you’ve gotten as specific as you can about your vision for your life, it’s time to figure out what the actionable steps are that you can take.

This is actually the fun part for me because I’m often surprised by how easy it is to get started. For example, I wanted to work mostly from home but have the flexibility of an office where I could go and meet up with others to conduct workshops or meetings.

In order for that vision to come true, it meant that I needed to:

Make enough money in my part-time job cover my rent and bills. Have a clear plan for what I would be doing with my extra time at home if I wasn’t using that time to make more money.

Before I even started looking for part-time jobs, I sat down and calculated how much money I would need to make in order to pay for rent and all my bills. That final amount could was then used to determine what type of jobs were best for me to apply to.

Discover what actionable steps you can take.

Turns out, I couldn’t work part-time at IHOP and still be able to follow my dreams. (Insert big Doh! sign here.) If I wanted to follow my dreams, I would have to clean up my resume. Update the resume became my first actionable step.

Tip: Actionable steps are any steps that have a clear start and finish. For example: Not Actionable: Losing weight. Actionable: Showing up prepared for a scheduled gym class.

It can take a while to go through each of your goals and identify actionable steps for each of them, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes for you to create a clear plan of action.

Follow through.

When I was working on my plan back in June 2018, I told myself that I wanted to have a book, an album, a visual art project, and a healthy writing career that crossed-genres. I gave each project a name, a deadline, identified some actionable steps I could take, and created individual calendars.

Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

I plotted out each step it would take to complete each project and posted it in an easy to view location in my bedroom. That way, day in and day out, I was constantly being reminded of what work I needed to get done.

Every day, I woke up and checked for the next actionable step I could take towards my goal. Sometimes I did whatever the list said. Sometimes I didn’t. But every time I did do what my list said — I saw pretty quick results.

Turns out, I needed to stop worrying about “being ready” for the next step — and just take it already.

Follow through on the plan you’ve created for yourself and you’ll be pretty surprised by how quickly you can go from “aspiring” to “emerging”.

Summary

Even though I didn’t see any major successes or major life improvements right away, I knew that I had finally taken those big first steps towards my dreams. When the results finally started to show themselves — I was shocked. It turns out that the only thing that had been tripping me up was my own self-doubt.

As I write this now, I’m sitting in my home office, surrounded by three new whiteboards with new calendars and goals. I got them after getting hired at my new full-time job, which just happens to be a nonprofit that doesn’t require me to be in the office every day. I finally get to do a lot of my work from my favorite desk at home.

Out of the four projects I put on my original list, I’ve accomplished all but one. My first book was released this past week, I dropped a new spoken word/hip hop album in June, and I’ve had my poems and essays published in Slate, HuffPost, Texas Observer, Color Bloq, Poetry Magazine, The Rumpus, Cincinnati Review, Foundry, and so many more.

And I did all of this in less than 18 months!