Book

Friday was a super exciting day, as I searched for my book online and found it on the Barnes and Noble website! It is a little bit surreal to see it actually being published, not only as an eBook, but also in actual print, hardcover, real life. My kids prefer books to Nooks and electronic reading in a lot of instances. I am not as picky, however, I am suddenly really excited for the actual book to land on my doorstep, hopefully soon!

My book is about setting goals. I tend to set goals, rarely tell people about them, strive to accomplish them, and then move on to the next thing. Sometimes I forget how important it is to include people in my goals, or at least let people close to me know what I am doing. Case in point: My husband is very supportive of whatever I decide to do. He knows I am ultra conscientious of our money, more so than he is, so he knows I am not going to frivolously spend money on things of little value, at least most of the time. I know that when he comes to me with larger purchase, which we always discuss, that he has done his research, and most often the purchase will assist him in his business, or repairing cars, etc. and will be an asset. But we discuss big things of that nature. What I didn’t talk to him about was that I was writing a book. Not because I didn’t want him to know, but because I just did it, that’s what I tend to do. I learned to paint late at night, I sew when he is at work, much of what I do he is unaware, or only slightly aware of because he either doesn’t see me doing it, or he is busy getting his stuff done. When we work together on his jobs, most of the conversations revolve around building houses (that’s what he does for a living), fixing cars (that’s his biggest hobby), or our kids.

So when I found my book online, I was super excited. He happened to call me just minutes after I found it, and I was so excited that I told him my book was online and available for purchase! There was silence, and then he said, “You wrote a book?” I thought, “Wow, did I not tell him that?” It is super exciting to accomplish goals, and some people really need those words of affirmation from people, which is an awesome boost to help us keep going. I think in some ways I really do like those words, but if I don’t get them it doesn’t slow me down, I just keep going with the next goal. But after he found out, he was happy for me, and wanted to know what it was about. It made me feel good to know he was interested. I thought about how often I see people doing great things, think to myself, “that’s really cool that they are doing that,” and then move on with life. How much benefit would it be if I just said to them, “That’s really cool, great job!” I think as we go through life, we, or probably mostly me, get wrapped up in what we are doing, we see things, think it’s great, and then just keep going with what we’re doing. I was grateful that day for his kind words. I hope I can see others better, and help motivate through my kind words as well.

My youngest son came to me the other day and wanted to know how I focus my mind. I told him it’s not always focused, but that setting goals, and going about your day doing good is a great way to maintain focus. When we set goals we have a purpose, we have something for our mind to work on, to think about. Setting goals also sends us in a direction, we are no longer floating along wherever the wind takes us. I am grateful for the goals I have set in my life, and now see how they have and are changing me for the better. There’s a Chinese proverb that says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 year ago. The second best time is now.” I often look back at my life and wish I had started doing the things I am doing now, long ago. How much further ahead would I be? But at the same time, I can’t live in the past, so now is the best time to start for the future. I don’t think 20 years ago I had a desire to write a book, or at least not a huge one, but I’m glad I didn’t wait for another 20 to accomplish the goal now. Now, on to the next goal, what will it be? Learning how to market books possibly! I hope you take opportunity to set a (or some) goal(s) today, so in 20 years you can look back and see how far you’ve come. If you need help figuring out what to do, you can check out my book on Barnes and Noble here.