If you have ever practice or read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, you are familiar with the horizon of focus that he mention and with the 40K level, or 3 to 5 years goals.
I decided to get back into writing on 2010 and as part of that decision I envision goals for the next 3 to 5 years.
Last week as I was doing some review of my system I got to my list and discover some really cool. I had an item that I could cross. This is a list that I check as much as I need but not all the time or every review.
When I choose to begins career as a writer I set a goal of three books. One of my goal was to publish three books. I published The Writer on May 2011, Putsch on December 2011 and 25 Tips for Productivity on September 2012. Not only that the editor had in her hands the Spanish version of The Writer (El Escritor) and the Spanish version of 25 Tips for Productivity (25 Consejos de Productividad) and they should be for sale in the fall of 2012. So it was mission accomplished. I wrote those three books and translate two more, that if you ask me was as hard or harder that write the book.
I was smiling, celebrating and acknowledging myself when I read the next line: Write a Best Seller.
I didn’t knew if that will ever happened. When you write a book you pour all your heart there but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is going to sell or even reach Best Sellers status. But I was lucky, and honored by a group of people that went and bought my book 25 Tips for Productivity and made the book a Best Seller on Amazon.com on Time Management (at the time of this writing for 19 days in a row!); so I was able to cross out of the list also that item.
The reason of goals like those is to guide you, to set direction, to help you discover the direction you are working toward and be able to recover when things make no sense, when you feel that you can’t take another step. Are those long term goals that seems impossible when you write them that keep the fire in your heart, that work as a guide to get somewhere.
I want to use this opportunity to say thanks, to all of you that read what I have to say, for those of you that support me by buying my books, to those of you that had share any of my books with anyone, to those of you that believe even when I have doubts.
In the mean time I will continue creating crazy goals and working hard to attain them. I hope to be able to come back in 3 – 5 years and tell you that I cross something else. Even better I hope you come back and let me know about something you cross.