A Worthy Goal

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."
Zig Ziglar

by: Suzie Carr
@girl_novelist

After several years of living enviously and vicariously through other people’s good fortunes, a friend said to me, “If you don’t take charge of your life, someone else will.”

Up to that point, I had been living my life afraid to assert myself, afraid to rely too heavily on unrealistic dreams. So, this phrase, swimming in truthful murk, stung like hell.

I couldn’t think of a single moment in time when I’d morphed into this person who allowed obstacles to cut into my dreams. But, somehow I’d allowed these challenges access to my primordial self, turning me into a victim of happenstance instead of a warrior claiming victory over my life.

No more my brain screamed.

My friend’s phrase had spun me into action. Compelled to act, I immediately set a goal to improve upon three areas of my life that I felt were most important to regaining my self-worth and well-being: to educate myself on how to invest, to get into the best physical shape of my life, and to write my butt off so I could work towards my lifetime dream of becoming a full time novelist.

That afternoon, I sat down at my dining room table with a pen in hand, and scribbled down the action steps I’d need to take to accomplish these three ideals. To see a goal in writing actually made it come alive for me. I couldn't ignore what I wanted to achieve a moment longer.

I broke each action step down into daily tasks and carried them with me in my pocketbook. When the craving to sleep in a little longer or watch some addictive television show tempted me, I thought about my daily list and how empowered I’d feel at the end of that day if I had checked off all the items.

With each day that passed, I became more and more determined to learn about bearish and bullish markets, to challenge my body physically with a good run or kettle bell workout, and to refine and publish my three novels.  Amazing what a little action each day could do for a gal!

Now, as I look back over this period of time, an easy smile rests on my face because all those little acts have added up to something powerful and tangible. I feel more alive than I did when I was in my twenties, I feel more financially empowered for my future, and I feel more grateful than ever that I am connecting with hundreds of readers a month now through my novels.

I have taken back the control and am continuing to steer my life in the direction I want it to go.

For the first time in my life, I am realizing that I can do anything I set my mind to doing.

I came across a great blog that speaks to the importance of setting goals. Randall Rogers talks about how setting goals is universal.

Here's to setting great goals,

Suzie Carr

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I feel it's critical to support the community, and so I've committed to donate a portion of my book sale proceeds to Chely Wright's LikeMe foundation (http://likeme.org/) to help provide support, resources and education to LGBT individuals, and their families and friends.

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