I found myself in a doctor’s waiting room last week. Right ahead of me was the above piece of motivational art. Very mid-2000s mommy blogger. A big block of platitudes.
But it got me thinking. I’m going to share my thoughts with you—but first:
I’ve been noodling around with this personal project since last summer. I call it the Feel Better Project. The idea is to create a plan—not for three years or five years. Not even for ten years. A plan for the rest of my life.
My nana died when she was 96 years old. Happy, healthy, and vibrant right up until the end. That’s what I want. I’m 53 now and I figure I can do some things to help me get there.
Anyway. I started thinking about how a list of life rules might fit nicely into the Feel Better Project. I whipped out my trusty everyday notebook and started a list.
Drink enough water.
Exercise for ten minutes a day.
Owe no one.
Keep a notebook.
Default to the positive.
Stay connected to my kids.
Stay connected to my siblings.
Do 1% better.
Present my true self to the world.
Take the risk.
Be a life-long learner.
Be someone other people want to know.
Be an active part of my community.
And on, and on, and on.
That’s a very long list of rules.
Too many rules to keep track of for forty years. It was a recipe for just dropping the entire thing just after the planning phase. But, what if I came up with objectives? Like containers for the rules to live in.
I challenged myself to distill those rules into three objectives. Here’s what I came up with.
Less, but better.
Learn forever.
Be your bravest self.
You’ll notice that writing isn’t on there. I think it falls under all of them, to be honest. But also, writing is about projects. I’m already a writer, so it’s not on my objective list, the same way ‘be a mom’ isn’t.
I limited myself to three—which is a little scary, to be honest. But also very useful. Following my rules will make me a better writer. And you’ll see below that I added writing as a bonus.
Now I can look at that list of rules and instead of platitudes, I can turn them into something concrete that moves me toward these life-long objectives.
Drinking enough water and getting ten minutes of exercise every day fall under ‘less, but better.’ So does anything to do with personal connections. I have a tendency to be very all or nothing with these things. Doing a little less, but doing it better is the goal.
Keeping a notebook and doing 1% better fall under ‘learn forever.’
Presenting my true self to the world, obviously falls into ‘be your bravest self.’
And then I can keep working on those until I end up with OKRs for right now that will lead to another and another and another — until I’m a happy, healthy, vibrant 96-year-old woman. Like my nana was.
OKR stands for Objective and Key Result.
The objective is what you want to accomplish. The key results are how you’ll do that. If you complete all the key results, then the objective will necessarily be met.
For instance, if my objective is to write 20,000 words in February and my key results are to, plot my story, write for at least ten minutes a day, and write 5,000 words a week—there’s no choice but for me to write 20,000 words.
An OKR generally covers a quarter—three months.
Here are my first life OKRs. I figure if I show them to you, then I have to follow through, right? Right.
Objective: Turn my attic into my own private creative reuse shop by May 1, 2025.
Key Results:
Clean out the little room, so I have somewhere to work.
Throw out all trash.
Donate anything I don’t want. Remember: less, but better.
Take things to sell to the shop.
Work for at least 15 minutes a day.
Objective: Learn to use my sewing machine by May 1, 2025.
Key Results:
Set up a sewing station.
Read the manual.
Practice at least 30 minutes a week.
Objective: Join and attend a local group, class, or event where I can meet people, by May 1, 2025.
Key Results:
Research opportunities.
Sign up for one thing.
Participate.
And a writing OKR as well. This is my bonus.
Objective: finish revising Wasted by May 1, 2025
Key Results:
Write zero draft.
Add any new scenes.
Make any additional structural edits, using the zero draft as a guide.
Read though, making sure it all reads smoothly.
Write at least ten minutes a day.
What would your personal list of life rules look like?
P.S. Please consider sharing this post with your writer friends. It will help us to grow. Thank you!
Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher and an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, Art and Louie the dogs, and Ollie Wilbur the cat.
She is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, Center of Gravity and Here I Am.
Check out her bestseller, How to Outline a Book in Three Hours. And join the Slow Writing Movement at the Book-a-Year Project.