~Writing Well Wednesday Tip~
Ladies, when it comes to achieving your writing goals,
you may be missing something.
According to a recent survey by “Leadership IQ”—founded by bestselling author Mark Murphy (Hard Goals: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be)—men and women differ when it comes to setting and achieving their goals.
Both have their strengths and weakness, but one of the ones that surprised me was that women are less likely than men to envision their goals.
To “envision” is to picture something happening in the future, to imagine how it will go in all its detail, to visualize the process. And it’s important to goal-setting, because it helps your brain rehearse what it needs to do to get where you want to go.
Studies have shown that visualization can be super helpful when it comes to increasing your skills and achievements. (Read more about that in my post over at “Writers in the Storm.”)
To practice envisioning your writing goals, try these tips:
1) 5-Minute Meditation: Take five minutes each day to sit quietly and imagine yourself going through the process to achieve the next step toward your goal. Try to imagine a positive emotion that will go with the process—how you will enjoy writing the next chapter, for example, or how seeking out just the right agent to query will feel exciting to you. (For more help with visualization meditation, see this article at the Chopra Center: “How to Use Meditation to Visualize Your Goals.”)
2) Make a Chart: Create a chart either by hand or on the computer the outlines each step you will take to reach your goal. You can make this chart even more useful if you add deadlines to each step, so that it also becomes a timeline.
3) Create a Visual Representation of Your Goal: Maybe it’s a picture of your published book, a document with a set number of email subscribers, a picture of you teaching a workshop, or a photo of a hoped-for writing retreat location. Creating something visual that you can see every day can boost your motivation. According to Jack Canfield, creator of the Chicken Soup books:
“When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the “Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year. Now that’s a pretty solid example of a successful visualization technique!”
Good luck!
Sources
“The Gender Gap and Goal-Setting: A Research Study,” Leadership IQ, December 27, 2016, https://www.leadershipiq.com/blogs/leadershipiq/the-gender-gap-and-goal-setting-a-research-study.
“Visualization Techniques to Confirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide,” Jack Canfield, http://jackcanfield.com/blog/visualize-and-affirm-your-desired-outcomes-a-step-by-step-guide/.