Tag: book proposal

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Taking Baby Steps

I set a goal on Monday. “I’m going to finish my book proposal by Friday.”

It wasn’t an impossible goal, but I didn’t accomplish it.

As usual, my brain wants to make that mean all sorts of negative things. (I’m a failure. I’ll never get it done. I always do things like this, so why even try?)

I’ve been fighting those thoughts (and losing) for the last couple of days.

Why can’t I focus on what I did get done instead? I spent almost two hours working on it on Tuesday evening (after procrastinating all of Monday and most of Tuesday). I wrote and tweaked parts of it on Wednesday for over an hour.

There were moments when I fell into despair because I didn’t like what I had already written. There were also flashes of hope when I wrote a new paragraph and saw how it might help a reader someday.

As I blog today, I’m choosing to celebrate the baby steps I took this week. I didn’t finish my proposal, but I’m three hours closer to completion. A few more baby steps next week and it might be ready to pass along to an agent.

There are other projects on my heart. It can be overwhelming to think about all of the steps involved in getting them done. Breaking them down into baby steps could help my brain see them as more possible.

We have to remember that there are going to be times in our lives when we race ahead, full of energy and ambition. Then there are those times when things are harder. We don’t have the confidence or energy to run, but even baby steps can keep us moving toward the finish line.

“I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24 NIV)

Do you get frustrated because you aren’t getting things done as quickly as you’d like? How can focusing on God help you to move forward—one baby step at a time?

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Focus Friday: Let’s Focus on Doing the Work

This is probably going to feel like a rerun for most of you. Taking action seems to be a frequent theme for these Focus Friday posts. I know I need constant reminders, maybe you do, too.

My mind is on “doing the work” because I attended a writers conference last weekend and pitched my book idea to agent Cynthia Ruchti. (The book is about my experience with depression and how we can all stay healthy emotionally.) She expressed an interest in seeing my book proposal when I get it finished. Exciting, right? You would think I would have rushed home, opened my computer, and finished that proposal immediately.

But no, that’s not how I roll.

I did spend one to two hours working on the proposal this week, but that’s the extent of it. There were some other things I had to work on, but I have to admit that I also wasted quite a bit of time doing things that weren’t really necessary.

If we want to get things done, we have to do the work.

If we want to clean and organize our houses, we have to schedule time to clear away the clutter, put things away, and put some elbow grease into making things shine. It won’t get done while we sit on the couch and watch Netflix.

If we want to lose some extra pounds, we need to move a little more and eat a little less. We might need to figure out why we run to food when we aren’t really hungry. We have to do the work or we’ll never see a difference in our waistline.

If we want to write a book, we need to get our bottom in the chair, open a document, and write. The words won’t magically appear just because we think about them once in a while.

If we want to improve a relationship, we need to make some choices about what we’re saying, how we’re acting, and why we love that person. We want it to be easy, but relationships take work.

Whatever you want to do in life, you might as well admit that it’s going to take work. As Proverbs 14: 23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” This could refer to financial profit and poverty, but I think it could also be talking about the profit of good results in our lives (a clean house, a healthier body, a book, a better relationship) as opposed to the lack of results (a pigsty, extra pounds, no book, a poor relationship).

As soon as I get this post done, I’m going to go schedule in some writing time for this weekend. That proposal is not going to get done unless I make sure I’m doing the work.

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands. ” (Psalm 90:17 NIV)

Do you have something that’s not getting done because you just aren’t doing the work? How can focusing on God help you to take steps to do it instead of just thinking about it?