I’m finding, the success books are right, when it comes to clearly defining your goal… the clearer, the better.
Once ancient mariners figured out The North Star… it was game on for world exploration.
At one point in my work career a motorcycle was my North Star Goal.
But it gave me the catalyst to move forward.
I was a good loader operator. Even in the winter time.
But sometimes your world gets up ended… due to environmental conditions.
(That’s just a lot of words for, “the pallet was icy.”)
So… the motorcycle became my North Star.
And I headed right for it.
But before I could shove off I needed to get permission… and funding.
I requested of my manager at the time, “Can I purchase a specific trailer for motorcycles to increase efficiency and safety, while moving motorcycles for processing?”
“No.”
For years the answer to “can I have permission and funding for this?” was “No.”
Then, a new supervisor, after seeing the up ended star in winter time, gave me PERMISSION AND TIME, if I could FIND the raw material to build what I needed.
So I set sail with… nothing. But a star (actually it was a Honda Goldwing) to guide me.
In my last article I talked about ‘perseverance’ and a line stuck out to me, along with a photo I used, as I gave it a re-read.
“…unswerved from his deliberate purpose.”
As I reminisced on the photo, it came to me… that once I had permission to schedule my workload in such a way that I could work on building my own motorcycle mover… my brain kicked in and started thinking in different ways.
As I was “studying” the quick attach system of the main fork assembly, it was clear I was going to need a substantial piece of iron for the mainframe of my motorcycle mover.
I was able to “scrounge” up the small iron I would need for bracing and railings. But the large piece eluded me.
Until, one day when I was working hard on an iron pile, trying to secure some good two inch flat stock. It was all piled up on some old racking, placed out in the woods, reminded me of every farmers “back forty” storage area.
I was struggling working from the top down.
So… I looked under. And saw I could squirrel my way underneath and reach some of the better pieces of flat stock.
I wasn’t two crawls in when my knee hit something hard and I jerked my leg up.
I brushed the leaves and acorns away and lo and behold… a large piece of iron, exactly what I needed for my mainframe, exposed itself.
“Perfect!”
It was a 12″ wide I-beam, approximately seven feet long.
“Plenty!”
Once I had that raw material, I was able to copy the quick attach frame I needed, and it would be industrial strength.
Once I had the frame, it was simple steering toward that big heavy star.
I’m learning steering toward a goal requires some, learning as you go; some failures; and multiple, small, course corrections… but the clearly defined goal doesn’t change.
That Goldwing is going to weigh seven hundred pounds today… and it’s gonna weigh seven hundred pounds tomorrow.
Having that specific goal made building the motorcycle mover simple, because I had a very specific purpose in mind of what the mover was being designed to move.
Once I had the “specific design” incorporated, built and tested, then I looked at it and determined “what else will fit on here?”
Two tools I used during the process, a tape measure, and a welder, were skills I picked up in life. I’m not the greatest at using either of those but I get by.
Today as I look at “writing professionally” I only have one clearly defined goal so far.
I call it “straight up free lancing.”
Here is that process…
- Find a “write for us” request online
- Determine if that company is something you can write about
- Craft an article to their specs
- Submit it, per their requirements
- Then sit back and wait…
- Depending on their communication style, you may get a rejection letter… “Thanks, but no thanks,”
- Or you may not get any return communication, other than an alert that said, “Your submission has been successful.”
- You may never hear back. You have literally, “cast your bread upon the waters.”
That is a specific avenue in writers world. I have learned how to measure and weld that article together.
But as you can see… it isn’t very consistent.
I handled hundreds, if not thousands, of motorcycles… I needed a specific tool for that.
I only handled, one, hot tub full of mannequins. I made do.
Today I’m formulating what that next goal needs to be for me and my writing.
I have hit the goal of “self help,” I helped, and continue to help… myself… with my writing, it is very healthy for me.
I don’t have a clear picture of how to help you, and create a consistent revenue stream, at the same time.
Learning how to be an author is going to require me to apply all of my problem solving skills… hopefully staying away from an upended star.
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