Dreams & Goals

Six Lessons Learned from Six Years of See Jane Write

On March 24, 2011 I walked into Cantina Tortilla Grill in Birmingham, Alabama to have dinner with about a dozen women I’d never met before. We talked about writing, blogging, social media and more. We talked about our current writing projects and the projects we dreamed of pursuing. And with this meeting See Jane Write was born.

Six years later See Jane Write is an award-winning business that has taught me so much about writing, blogging, branding and — most of all — myself.

Here are six things I’ve learned from my six years of running See Jane Write.

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Let Her Sleep

Monday afternoon after a long day at work and after visiting my mom, I came home, put on my pajamas and got in bed at 5 p.m. I stayed there for three hours eating Golden Flake Sweet Heat potato chips and watching television. My husband thought I was dying. Seriously.

I’m the woman who comes home from work only to launch into at least three additional hours of work and one hour of exercise.

And the Monday to-do list in my Day Designer* was full. But I just didn’t care. My body told me to get in bed and so I listened.

And I’m glad I did.

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Where There Is No Vision…

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29:18

We’re 7 days into March, the month that should be all about crushing my 1st quarter goals, but instead I feel as if my goals and everything else in my life are all crushing me!

Lately, I have felt so uninspired and this has hampered my ability to write and blog. Because I help the women of See Jane Write with this issue all the time I know exactly what my problem is: I lack vision.

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36 for 36

Photographer: Stanley Parrish (www.pixeloutflowstudios.com)

There’s something special about having a birthday in the second month of the year. If you’ve had less than a happy new year, if you’ve broken resolutions or failed to accomplish your January goals, your birthday becomes your second chance. Your birthday becomes your do-over.

Today, February 9, is my birthday. Today begins my second chance at 12 months of excellence.

Today I turn 36 and as I wrote in my Write Like a Girl column for B-Metro, at first I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this new age. You see, 36 is not a milestone birthday, but it sure feels like one as it officially declares me closer to 40 than 30. Does this make me old? I wondered. Does this mean I’m “over the hill”? Was 35 “the hill”?

But, I’ve decided that only I can define the prime of my life, so, I will take 36 and have the time of my life.

Here are 36 things — both personal and professional — I want to do while I’m 36:

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The Freedom of Focus

This girl is focused in February! // Photo by Kristen Stringer

February 1st is here. We’re an entire month into 2017 and, unfortunately, I spent most of January feeling completely overwhelmed. And it was all my own fault!

My 2017 goals, the same goals that in December filled me with anticipation and excitement, in January started to fill me with apprehension and trepidation instead. I made a list of all the tasks I needed to complete to accomplish my January goals but the list was about as long as I am tall! And I knew exactly why. I wasn’t following my own advice, the very advice that I gave the ladies who took my e-course, The #GoalDigger Project.  I wasn’t staying focused.

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