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| Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash |
Welcome back to Fortune Cookie Friday! I hope you’ve all had a good week and are ready for a nice weekend. I’m excited about my weekend plans, as I’ll be taking my first-ever writing course. I’ll let you know how it goes, but I'm really looking forward to it!
Before we get to today’s fortune, I wanted to provide an update to last week’s post about Soul Wounds and Sacred Revelations. For those of you local to the Pittsburgh region, author Deneen Joyner asked me to share the news that she will be doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble at Settlers Ridge on March 30th from 1-4 p.m. I highly recommend meeting Deneen in person if you can! If you want to read her book electronically, it’s available from a variety of sources, including here:
Okay, announcement aside, let’s get to today’s fortune, shall we? This one is a reader submission that came in just this week, and it fits in so perfectly with the theme of the last two fortunes we had (Success; Failure) that I’m going to trust the timing and share it today:
“You must be willing to act today in order to succeed.”
I like to think of this fortune as a reminder that “there’s no time like the present,” as the old adage goes. And I think it's fair to say that we can apply this concept to just about anything, not just life’s “big stuff.”
Keep reading for three examples about how you can apply this type of thinking. Feel free to utilize these ideas in any area of your life.
Example 1: Chores & Daily Life
I can look around my house and feel overwhelmed by how much laundry I have to do. If I'm honest, it’s a lot! Did I mention our washing machine broke after burst water pipes in our house a couple of weeks ago? No? It rained inside our house, and then I couldn’t wash all the wet towels because the washer broke. I got those handled at the laundromat til our washer got fixed, but now I’m a bit behind on the rest of the laundry! I feel like I am always playing catch-up, which can feel a little overwhelming.
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| (image courtesy clipartpng.com) |
It’s not that big a deal, but as anyone who has a lot on their to-do list can probably relate, sometimes one more thing to do can feel like one-too-many things. But the nice thing about doing laundry is it can do itself, for the most part, so I should really just get on with it.
(Hang on, BRB—gonna go throw in a load of laundry!)
Great! Now my laundry is getting done. I just had to be willing to act on it.
Example 2: Life Goal
Now, let’s say there’s a bigger goal you want to achieve. What steps are you going to take to get there? Are you willing to explore this?
Let me just make up an example out of thin air, since I hear this one a lot in my line of work: you want to publish a book.
Are you going to sit in the land of “Someday I want to…” or starting today, are you willing to take the steps you need to take to get that book published?
You can be doing something every single day to get the “published author” title after your name. Want some inspiration?
- Brainstorm your book idea with a basic notebook and pen ; you can even use workbooks or project notebooks made specifically for writers, if you think they'd help.
- You can take a writing class or join a writing support group in your local community.
- Start writing. Write every single day. Set word count goals. (500. 5,000. Doesn’t matter how many.)
- Read up on the publishing process so you know which direction you want to go in: self-publish or traditional publishing? What do you need to know about it?
- Reach out to people who will help you with your goal, such as: other writers to give you feedback and guidance on your work, beta readers, editor, proofreader, agent, etc. (You do know I’m an editor and proofreader, right? You've got one resource handled, at least.)
Do you see how quickly I jotted down some potential steps for that goal? It only took me a few minutes to do that. Once you've noted the steps, you can take action on them.
Example 3: Something You Want to Have
A few weeks ago, a friend who wasn't a crocheter expressed the desire to have a shawl. There's one she liked on Ravelry. I said to her, "Oh, you can TOTALLY make that yourself, and I can show you how."
I offered to do a "besties crochet-a-long" with her, where we would both buy the yarn and get started on it on the same day and do it together. I offered to be there for her every step of the way to answer questions.
I'm happy to say that she is now several repeats of the pattern ahead of me on this shawl!
I am so happy for my friend! She was willing to do something she had never done before in order to get the end result she wanted. She had faith she could do it, and she had the resources (me, the internet, YouTube) to help her when she had questions.
She hasn't crocheted anything more than a granny square before. She has never read a pattern. She hasn't touched a crochet hook in 20 years, but she is making herself a shawl! And all because she was willing to entertain the possibility that she could.
The Takeaway
So after reading these examples, are you inspired to get started on something you've always wanted to do? If so, what do you want to accomplish, and what steps are you going to take—TODAY—to get there?
Be willing to have an open mind. Be willing to act. Be willing to know that anything is possible. Be willing to have faith in yourself.
Be willing.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by what the steps may be, there’s help available to you. From groups on the internet to local meetup groups to friends and family to books and podcasts and YouTube videos on how to do just about anything...you will have the resources you need.
Whatever it is that you want to do, just start.
What are you waiting for?
Drop me a comment and let’s talk about this! Tell me your goals and steps; maybe we can inspire each other or brainstorm!
Until next time,
💛🐝
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