Elite Blog Academy posts on my Facebook feed have popped up for several months now. I submitted my email to receive promotions and freebies from the founder, Ruth Soukup. Her name has appeared in my promotions email tab so often, I love seeing it show up. But when the ugly apathy monster rears its head, any mention of anyone offering tips on how to become an awesome blogger is most unwelcome.
So I ignored these emails for a while, I'm ashamed to admit, along with several other emails from other sites to which I'd subscribed.
However, the other day, on my Facebook feed Elite Blog Academy popped up once more and caught me on a good day. It advertised the Goal Setting Workbook for Bloggers -- a freebie, by the way.
And I competed my workbook last night.
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| The Goal Setting Workbook for Bloggers by Ruth Soukup is a good start to making a dent in your blogging or writing goals. (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
It. Felt. Good.
Hooray for the first step!
Creating long term and short term goals is helpful, motivating and the swift kick I needed.
But that's not all the workbook offers. Not by a long shot.
Every day I see things I should be doing rather than checking Facebook or watching my lame selection of television. My laundry is woefully behind and my floors need to be swept, but that's not what I'm talking about.
My writing is suffering the worst because I become complacent and convince myself my writing isn't important enough that people will read it.
However, I know that's not true and I know I want my writing to work for me, which is where the first worksheet comes in from Soukup's workbook -- List Your Priorities.
In writing down what's important about my writing and and other important tasks in my daily life, it was interesting to see where my priorities should lie.
I was able to list my top five priorities and later in the workbook I was able to list five things I could eliminate entirely from my daily life.
My initial priorities are:
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| (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
My husband and I have some lofty dreams, which shouldn't be as complicated as we make them. Blogging is a part of my plan to make those dreams come true.
The second worksheet pushes you to create long term and short term goals. But first, you are challenged to imagine your life five years from now as a motivator to reach the goals you set.
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| (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
Worksheet three is oddly titled at first glance. I do not want to eat frogs. However, it comes from a great quote by Mark Twain -- "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's the best to do it first thing in the morning. Chances are, it will be the worst thing you do all day." Basically, this worksheet makes you focus on setting aside a certain amount of time each morning to work on your goals and important tasks before you do anything else.
My mornings are quite short and my only real chore is dishes right away in the moning, but I also vowed I will not look at my phone, watch the news or get ready for work until I've worked on my goals.
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| (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
Ms. Soukup's workbook also encourages you to reset morning and evening habits. My habits are to get up in the morning, immediately make coffee and sit down to watch the news. The evening is nearly the same, except I grab a glass of water or milk and sit down to watch TV, which is ridiculous considering I have two channels.
Here are my habits I'd like to develop:
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| (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
The final worksheet in the Goal Setting Workbook helps you define what you can do without in your life in order to make your priorities more prominent.
Here are five things I am going to work on eliminating:
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| (photo by Anna Jauhola) |
I look at Facebook way too often, comparing my life to those whose lives seem to be rosy and trouble-free. I also check my blog stats too often, and become discouraged when I see my posts only get 40 to 50 views.
My biggest problem is making excuses as to why I don't need to write today, the biggest lie being that I won't succeed in becoming a freelancer.
Writing things down has always helped me remember stuff, like groceries, when school is out early, if I need to pick up something random from the store, and so on.
Through a little effort and persistence, Ms. Soukup's workbook will help me remember my goals, priorities and what's important.
As she says in some of her opening remarks: "The difference between a DREAM and a GOAL is often nothing more than a piece of paper." Or in my case, my hand.
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