Important Announcement
Hello Revolutionaries! It’s time for an important troop briefing. This will be the last DO LESS Revolution post at Magpie Girl. Why you might ask? Because the Revolution is going underground briefly so it can re-emerge as an Ecourse on doing less and living more.

 Through comments and emails I’m finding that while this material is helpful, some of us need a hand to hold. So I’m working hard to offer a 6 week course with soulful, focused assignments; on-line group support and personal coaching. This will help you pare down your life, allow you to focus on the essential, and move you into a more concentrated, powerful form of living. I’m super excited to offer this course to you, and hope it will be available as an advanced preparation for the over-booked holidays. (A calmer Holiday Season… wouldn’t THAT be nice?) If I can’t get it prepped by then, we’ll do it in January as a New Year’s soulcare practice. So stay tuned for some personalized, focused support coming your way!

The One Goal Concept
But before we take our hiatus, let’s talk about the One Goal. Remember when we were choosing our Most Important Tasks (M.I.T.s)?  Well some of us were struggling to identify those M.I.T.s , even with the help of our Guiding Values. It’s a common problem. But Leo Babauta’s concept of One Goal can really help. Leo’s theory is that if you have just One Goal, say for the next year, and you break that down into sub goals, it will keep you focused and motivated. (For a more detailed left-brain take on this process see “Chapter 7: Simple Goals and Projects” in The Power of Less.)

My application of this theory has been to name One Goal for my vocational life – my “calling” as it were.  To me, this is not something I chose, but something that chose me-a powerful internally motivated pull towards work that has attracted me my entire life.  However, even though I’ve been moving in this direction for a long time, I could not name my One Goal until recently. Let’s look at my One Goal and how I use it. Then I’ll give you a handy-dandy assignment to help you uncover your own.

My One Goal is about helping The Giant Pool of Wisdom grow. This means teaching about soulcare, and encouraging others to teach what they know as well.  So to shorthand it, “Teach” is my One Goal. Let’s look at how my One Goal gets translated into the work that I do every day. It involves: determining which methods I’d like to use to meet that goal; breaking the goal into sub goals; and creating a task list of steps which can be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time.  Here’s my example: 

One Goal: Teach
Methods: writing, podcasting, Ecourses, guest lecturing
Sub goals:produce a series of PDF/POD books, create Ecourses, and offer spiritual direction to clients
Tasks (for books): gather already written material, create outline, design layout, edit current chapters, write additional chapters, request guest chapters and introductions, etc.

To help me stick to my One Goal, the sub goals and the tasks at hand, I’ve created a couple of “personal quotes” that sum things up for me. The two I’m working with right now are:

“There ain’t no place to go but together” (This reminds me that what I am doing is valuable, not just to me but to others.)

“Your story is important, sing it from the rooftops” (This I borrowed fromJen Lemen. It reminds me that my story — and the stories I’m helping others tell — are valuable, powerful, and much needed in this world.)

Assignment
Now, that’s all very well and good for me. But perhaps right now you are thinking, “I would really like to throw a book at Rachelle’s head.” I’m sorry. I know it’s hard when you are overwhelmed, or stuck, or just plain feel like giving up. But fear not, help is at hand in the form of -you guessed it-an assignment. Here are some things you can play around with to help you find your One Goal.

1. M.I.T. History. Have you been writing down your M.I.T.’s? If not, start now. After two weeks, or even after a few days, look over your old lists. What do you find yourself prioritizing most often? What tasks do you actually get done on your MIT lists? Which do you put off doing? These are directing you towards your One Goal. What are those things telling you about your passions and priorities?

2. Clarity from the Trenches. Look back at your Have Done list. What things did you highlight as things that give you good energy? Those are pointing the way. What things aren’t on your list that you wish were there? Perhaps you wish you had stuck with your language lessons, or made more time to work on a creative project. That’s valuable information about what your One Goal should be as well.

3. Job History. Make a list of all the jobs, paid or unpaid, you have had over the years. Alternately, make a quick list of all the projects you have started (whether you finished them or not.) They make look quite disparate at first. But there is an over-arching theme. While working with my Life Coach, Jena Strong, I made a list of all my past jobs: special events fundraiser, cultural and educational event programmer, social worker at a teen shelter, pastor, spiritual director for hire, freelance writer, and blogger. As I moved from one job to the next, I would mentally put that era in a storage box on a shelf. When I looked at all those dusty boxes I tended to think of each of those eras as a mistake. How could those have been the right choice if I tired of them and moved on? Jena helped me see that they weren’t individual boxes full of mistakes, but rather the building blocks of one great theme: Teaching. Teaching about the needs of the organizations I raised funds for. Teaching people about arts and culture. Teaching the kids at the shelter, and the community about the needs of those kid, etc. This revelation that all of my work was linked by a common theme, not only redeemed my choices, but also brought my One Goal into focus. And it had the added benefit of helping me feel more confident about my next venture, rather than looking into the future and worrying that whatever I did next would just be a dusty box in a few years time. What can your list do for you? See if you can distill it into one powerful, intoxicating theme.

4. Got It? Flaunt it! Do you think you have your One Goal Figured out? Then scroll back up a few paragraphs and break it down a little. What methods will you use to embody that goal? What sub goals can you break your One goal down into? What are the tasks you need to do to meet your sub goals? And what personal quotations can you create as act a mantra or motivator for your journey?

Now, perhaps you can see why I don’t lead the DO LESS Revolution with this One Goal concept. How can you do such heady work if you are overpowered by a to-do list as long as your arm? The first exercises in the DO LESS Revolution are like doing demolition work with explosives. With your master to-do list in one hand and your sharpie in the other, you blow stuff up and sweeping it out of the way. Now, the One Goal process is more like a surgical strike. You work to focus in on one guiding goal, which in turn lets you live a powerful, concentrated life where you actually do the work you love every day.

So keep at it my fellow revolutionaries! We are making progress! Let us know in the comments below if you’ve gained any insight into your One Goal. Or tell us where you are getting stuck. We of the enquiring minds want to know. Viva la Revolution!

The Do Less Revolution is a soulcare project from Magpie Girl. Click here to join or find all the DO LESS posts here. Recieve an update on new Do Less items by following us on Twitter. Thanks for being here!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Magpie Girl, Soulcare.
Tags: do less, Soulcare



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