I was in the waiting room between my Somadome session and a visit with my naturopath (OMG, I’m so freakin’ LA) and I spotted this brochure.

Obviously, it’s a brochure from the end of last year, promoting the “New Year, New Chances, Same Goals, Fresh Starts” some gym can provide.

My immediate thought?

“Same goals?!? NEVER!”

I was so shocked that they would want to *promote* the same goals — the goals we didn’t achieve last year so maybe this year we finally will — that I snapped this quick photo before going in to get my chakras aligned.

I came home and ranted to Keith, “What on EARTH are they trying to trigger in people with this marketing angle? What’s GOOD about showing up a year later having the exact same goals as last year? That’s failure!”

Of course, my ever-patient hubs who has had the opportunity to hear me rant about a great many things in 16+ years said, “I think the goal is to stay fit.”

*thud*

Oh.

Of course.

That works.

They’re marketing to people who LIVE in a sustained goal-achievement state. They’re reminding the already-fit that they have a partner in their fitness. This gym. This ritual. This commitment.

See, I have been pegged so far over here in my coaching applications lately that I lost sight of goals that are actually really awesome to KEEP forever.

Here’s what I mean.

Every day I receive an application, an email, a tweet or ten, an Instagram message, a Facebook question from someone with goals. Goals like:

• move to LA
• join the union
• create footage
• get an agent
• get a BETTER agent
• book a co-star
• shift from co-star to guest star tier
• leave behind my survival job
• cruise the festival circuit with a self-produced project

…and so on.

And when I think of goals like these, I never want someone to have the same goal a year later because that means the box next to the goal didn’t get checked off. And that means staying still. And in a “grow or die” field like our creative industry, welp, you get where I’m headed with that line of thought.

After Keith set me straight that there’s absolutely a set of “same goals” that are delightful to have on a list year after year, I started thinking of my goals. I started thinking about how I break my life down into a series of 100-day challenges (this probably isn’t news to you — if it is, you can click here to read about my first-ever 100-day challenge that took place in 1998 when I dropped out of my PhD program, sold everything I owned on eBay, and moved *back* to LA to give this business one more shot). I started thinking about how I’ve been surrounded by 100 or so brilliant goal-achievement-state-living SMFA ninjas since January 1st who set out on a 100-day challenge with me and how together we’ve redefined goals to be less like those on that list above and more like these:

• stay present
• stay grateful
• stay passionate
• stay mindful
• stay healthy
• stay on the hustle — when aligned for it, of course
• stay purposeful
• stay connected with those who support accountability and focus
• stay inspired

…and so on.

Ah… I love these goals. I *share* these goals. And what I especially love about these goals is that by staying focused on them, the goals on the first list actually happen!

Because the focus isn’t a WHOLE YEAR (which is forever away… as I hit *send* on this email, we’re just approaching the midpoint of 2017 for cryin’ out loud, which is proof of both how fast this year is flying by and how much time is still stretched out ahead of us this year), it’s conquerable. The ability to commit to 100 days of ANYTHING and actually show up for yourself is do-able.

And I learned that truth not quite 19 years ago when I changed my life with my first 100-day challenge.

Where are you with your goals, as we hit the midpoint of 2017?

Have you made progress with the ones that are in that first type of list thanks to focusing most of your attention on the ones in that second type of list? Or do you have a whole different type of list than either of these? I’d love to know!

Jam with me below in the comments, wouldja?

And of course, if you wanna jam with me at Get in Gear for the Next Tier, our 100-day challenge is enrolling for SUMMER SESSION and it’s gonna be amazing! The students who have created an entire new relationship with their creative careers since January 1st are eager to welcome you to the DOJO! Heck, if you buddy up with one of them, you *both* get a free coaching sesh with me when you enroll. Dude. That’s amazing.

Because I want to see you succeed with goal setting, creating lasting change, and living a creative journey filled with blissed out badassery, here’s the GIGFTNT Welcome Kit (PDF) even if you’re not joining me for my support and curriculum brilliance for the next 100 days. The tips in that doc will help you carve out some space for making a difference for yourself.

And that’s why you’ll do any of this anyway, right? To be good enough to yourself to actually come through on those things you say you want to make happen.

Speaking of creating space, did you miss my Facebook Live broadcast on clearing digital clutter? Here’s the replay at Facebook (comments open) and YouTube (not). I hope you’ll spend some time this weekend setting boundaries that FEEL GREAT for nurturing your creative genius. You owe those limits to the brilliance inside you that creates something out of nothing EVERY DAY.

Members of The SMFA Vault — stay tuned for my master class on creative FLOW. I was turned on to Flow Theory when Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi visited my class as I was working on that above-mentioned PhD in instructional technology. I recently reignited my love affair for Flow Theory and the power getting into a state of creative flow has to SHUT DOWN our inner critic from a neurological standpoint, allowing us to create things at miraculous levels.

Not gonna lie, it’s gonna be ULTRA geeky but deep as hell and if you’re game for the journey, Imma take you there. 🙂 Stay tuned! Because the ability to drop IN on a state of brain function that puts you in the zone?!? Priceless! And — like with everything I teach in Self-Management for Actors — it’s all about building a muscle for what makes the difference for YOU.

Not in The SMFA Vault? There’s one road in… and it’s a 100 day journey that starts here.

Okay, enough of the grad school geekery! 😉 Now you tell me how you structure your goals and whether you too break your year into smaller parts to help you achieve more, more effectively.

Isn’t this fun?

All my love, beautiful ones!

XO

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!