A Year From Now… The 2/2 Challenge

BySarra Cannon

This weekend I had a lunch date with my very good friend, bestselling romance author Zoe Dawson. We have one of those friendships where whenever we get together it’s almost like we can’t talk fast enough! We have so much to say and I think we both inspire each other so much.

Me and Zoe at RWA national conference in Orlando, 2010.

Zoe was my very first critique partner and even though we aren’t critiquing each other’s work anymore, we still have a great friendship and try to get together at least once a month to talk about our lives and our books. On Saturday (2/2), we talked about our goals for this year. We both have set some really high goals for ourselves. We want to be very productive in our writing. We want to exercise more. And we both want to lose some weight. I just had a baby seven months ago and she works a full time day job, spending her free time writing. We’re busy and it isn’t always easy to ‘do it all.’

Being a writer (especially a self-published one) is filled with both great rewards and great challenges. Now that I have a baby to take care of, the challenges have only gotten harder. Still, I don’t want to give up on my goals and dreams. I want this year to be the year I live up to my own expectations of myself.

Zoe brought up a saying she’d seen on pinterest:

Sarra Cannon and I have started a challenge. We'll use this board for inspiration as we journey through our goals for the year.

Isn’t this so true?? I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve thought this! In regards to dieting, exercise, writing, everything! I tend to be the kind of person who says I’ll start tomorrow. Of course, what happens is that tomorrow isn’t a good day for change either. I end up pushing things off for a day, then a week, and before you know it, a year has gone by without getting any closer to my goal.

I don’t want 2013 to be that kind of year. I want this year to be the year I finally start TODAY. I want to wake up every day and reach deep within to find the motivation to keep going. I know every day isn’t going to be perfect, but as long as I keep trying and never give up, just think of what I could accomplish by this time next year??

After feeling invigorated by our conversation, Zoe and I decided to challenge each other. Our lunch was Saturday. 2/2/13. We decided we would both go home, write our goals down on a piece of paper, seal it in an envelope, and put it somewhere we could see it everyday. Then, in exactly one year – on 2/2/14 – we would get together again for lunch and open those envelopes. See Zoe’s blog post about the 2/2 challenge here.

To be opened: 2/2/14

Our hope is that by this time next year, we will have proven to ourselves that we could do it. Instead of wishing we’d done something to change our lives, we will be proud of what we’ve achieved. We realize that there’s no one standing in our way but ourselves.

My goals are this:

  • Lose 40 pounds (mostly still baby weight, but some still lingering from weight I put on during a year of fertility treatments).
  • Publish 5 new books.

That’s it. Two little (HUGE) things. It looks so simple, but I know that in order to actually achieve those two things, it means taking advantage of every single day. Making time for myself to exercise and to write every single day. I know it will be tough, because my number one priority is being a good mom and a good wife.

Still, I want to be a good Sarra, too.

Zoe and I have started a pinterest board dedicated to our journey where we will be posting inspiration throughout the year. I hope you’ll follow us. In fact, I hope you’ll join us on our journey to see what we can accomplish by 2/2 of next year.

What are your goals? Things you might have been putting off or things you really want to accomplish over the next year? What inspires you? If you want to join, feel free to write your goals down and put it in an envelope marked 2/2/14 and we’ll all open it together next February!!! There is no better time than now to make a difference in your own life!

5 Comments

  2. This is an amazing idea. My best friend (and fellow indie author) JC Emery and I basically wanted to do something similar, although we didn’t think of the envelopes or any of that. We both knew that we worked well with Challenges and that Nano has been one of our great writing tools. So, since Nano isn’t until November and Camp Nano is in June and August, we needed something sooner. We decided that February was going to be FEBNO. We have challenged each other to hit 45K words this month. We set aside time each day to do what we call Write Chats, where we write for a pre-alloted time and then come together and share what we accomplished and either ask for help if something is just being a pain in the butt or share our favorite part of what we just wrote.

    I personally want to get out at least three books this year, and since my first book comes out on the 15th, my second is already in editing stages, and I am writing my third right now, I think it is completely possible.

    You have to know that your journey has been a total inspiration to me and I keep coming back to your site for all your wonderful tips and information on self publishing. So thank you for making me believe that I can do it too. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to take the plunge had I not found Harper’s story and from that yours.

    1. Thank you so much Adrianne! It sounds like you are doing amazing and that you will definitely reach your goal this year. It actually sounds like you might surpass it!

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