The Luck of Who?

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

I am more convinced than ever we are our own luck. We are the one who gets us to the right place at the right time. At least if we are working toward something.

If we are waiting around until someone comes to help us we might just find ourselves standing in that very same place a year from now.

The nugget of gold at the end of the rainbow is our goal, the one we did or did not lay out a plan for. Either we do obtain the nugget of gold or we don't based on what we did or didn't do.

It is up to us each day to make every effort to work toward our goal. If we move toward our goal daily, eventually we will reach that nugget of gold at the end of the rainbow but it won't be because of the luck of the Irish. It will be because we chose a goal, made a plan and worked that plan.

When we arrive at the nugget, let's pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves for extending the effort every day to accomplish what others just dream about.

One Day Starts Today

by Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief

David J. Schwartz, PhD said, “The person determined to achieve maximum success learns the principle that “progress is made one step at a time.”

We would all love to wake up this morning and be a successful bestselling, sought after author with people clamoring for our books, so much so the publisher can’t get them printed fast enough. Movie studios are knocking at our door with contracts.

The truth is that normally doesn’t happen to anyone…and if it should, there is a strong possibility that it will be just for that one book because they haven’t built their foundation. Long-term writing success requires a foundation and as Dr. Schwartz said, “foundations are built one brick at a time. Football games won a play at a time.” When you see someone hit it big, look close, you will see that person used the one-step at a time approach. One-step upon another until stardom was attained.

To become a bestselling author, many steps come into play. We have to write every day to finish our manuscript. Then we need to find an agent who will find the publisher or we need to find a self-publisher. Our work doesn’t stop there. Then comes the marketing phase of this foundation. Every day we have to make efforts to market our book. We have to Facebook, Twitter, and then we need to blog. There are many bricks needed to build our foundation. Remember in anything we undertake, to succeed we need to take one-step, one brick, and one day at a time.

When we have a project to work on, we should never look at the entire scope of the project, just the part that can be achieved that day. We have all heard the expression ‘One day at a time’. That is all we have. Take today; write what you can, market what you can; your one day starts today!

Moving Toward Your Goal

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

What is your goal? Are you moving toward it? Do you make progress each day? We all need to know what our goals are. Someone once said a goal without a plan is just a wish. We need to have a plan to move in the direction that will ensure success in reaching those goals. How do we get this done?

First determine your goals. In the business world we have a short formula we use to determine our goals and it has three steps. They are: “How Much? By When? The Details?”

Let’s say you are building your platform and you decide you want as part of your platform 1,000 Followers on Twitter and 1,000 Friends on Facebook. There is your “How Much?” question answered.

Now we move on to “By When?”. You want those numbers reached by the end of the year. This will coincide with the completion of your first draft and you can refer to these numbers in your query letters you send to literary agents.

Next “The Details?” step is more complicated. You determine the steps you must take in order to meet those numbers by that date. You know you can’t reach your goal in an hour, day or even one month. So you will need to determine what you will do and how you will do it consistently to complete your goal. You must break it down. An example: you have 200 days left in the year and need 2,000 new Friends and Followers. You need to add 10 a day for 200 days. How will you do it? You will need to say “I will reach my goal of 2,000 additional Friends and Followers by contacting 10 to 20 new contacts a day and request they become my Friend or Follower.” With that decided you must act.

I love the quiz; three frogs were sitting on a log and one decided to jump. How many frogs are sitting on the log? The answer is three. A decision without action has no results. In order to reach your goal you must act and do so in a continuous steady fashion. Jack Canfield, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, calls it “sustained effort”. AndyAndrews, author of The Traveler’s Gift, The Butterfly Effect and The Final Summit said, “I persisted without exception.”  If Canfield or Andrews had made the decision and not moved on it we would not have these great works available to us today.

The only way to get nearer to your goal is to move toward it. Determine how much, by when and work out the details. THEN JUMP!  

I Have a Dream: How Dreams Become Reality

by Susan Reichert

What is it you want out of life? Today can be the day you decide what your desire is. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want your life to look like?

I know these are many ‘what questions’. However, they are important, and you need to answer each one of them. You see, until you decide what it is you desire to accomplish you are not going to do anything. Nothing will change. You will still get the same results you have been getting. You will still be going nowhere.

When you get to the end of life, do you really want to be laying there saying “I wish I had…” or “If only I had done…”?  This could happen. However, I have a feeling you are a person who will make the changes necessary to avoid that being the end.

List out your desires, envision what you want them to look like, draw out the plans, make a commitment to yourself you will achieve them. Sounds as if I have a but coming doesn’t it? I do. You see in order to accomplish those desires you will have to set deadlines. You need one for each phase of your plan. Take ownership and make this happen for you.

Many people set up goals, but they fail to reach them. One sure fire way to fail is not to make a plan and set the deadlines.