Someone recently wrote to me that their writing year had yet to begin. Others have expressed that the uncertainty surrounding 2025 has been so intense they haven’t set any goals. I get it. So much is happening that it can feel like what’s the point.
Yet while speaking with a friend at the end of the San Francisco Writers Conference, we both felt the urge to get things done. Part of it was seeing so many writers accomplish their goals. Then there was the magic of spending time with a group of people unified in purpose. We couldn’t help but soak up their infectious enthusiasm.
How do you accomplish your goals when, as Lara Lillibridge wrote last week, “It’s Valentine’s Day and the World Is Burning?”
The Power of Focusing on the Basics
During my Lyme journey, whenever I experienced a symptom flare, I returned to the basics. For a writer, this means reconnecting with your why—or creating one, if you haven’t already—by understanding how your project will transform you and serve your readers.
Next, maximize the effectiveness of your routines so that you’re working smarter, not harder. Over the weekend, I read “I figured out what’s missing from the advice on morning routines” by McKinley Valentine, care of Jane Friedman’s Electric Speed newsletter. (Thanks, Jane!)
This brilliant article offers some must-read strategies for building better routines and overcoming resistance, so please read the full article. I want to expand on one of McKinley’s points in this post.
She divides morning routines into two purposes: “Looking good habits (Medicine) and creating a specific emotional state (sugar).” Depending on your needs, that “sugar” state could be calm, energized, or creative. What works for you will also be unique. For instance, although research indicates meditation is great for your mental health, if it makes you anxious, it’s not great for you.
As a coach, I’m continually refining my approaches and researching new ones.
Last month, I received an email with this subject line: “Use This ChatGPT Prompt to Organize Your Year.” In it, social media content coach Mindy Marzec shared how she input her astrological sun, moon, and rising signs, elements of her Human Design report, and a specific prompt into ChatGPT. This created a report outlining what she should focus on for the next six months.
Sounds convenient, right?
I’m still not sure I want ChatGPT to plan my year, but my Spidey senses told me to get my Human Design report, so I did. When I mentioned it to my husband, he decided to get one too.
The Power of Understanding Your Human Design
Human Design is a self-discovery tool created by Ra Uru Hu, “which combines astrology, Kabbalah, Myers-Briggs, I Ching, quantum physics, and the chakra system, among other elements,” to generate an energetic blueprint of who you are.
While I’ve had a few revelations from my 297-page report, much of the content reaffirms what I’ve always known but haven’t consistently embraced.
For example, I’m highly intuitive and dislike pro/con lists. I prefer to make decisions based on my gut reactions. For a long time, this felt lazy or indicative of poor decision making, especially if things didn’t work out. But this is precisely how I’m supposed to operate.
Here’s the catch: Harnessing my intuitive decision-making abilities requires clear access to my gut-level yeses and nos. Because my dysregulated caregivers couldn’t allow me to have my own needs and desires, I divorced myself from that powerful internal guidance system during my childhood.
I’ve spent a significant portion of my recovery reconnecting with that system. Now, my task is to recalibrate and strengthen it.
Another discovery was my Self and Not-Self themes. “Self represents the authentic energy and behaviors aligned with who you truly are. Not-Self occurs when you allow conditioning to take over and dictate your life.” The feeling states of Self and Not-Self vary by type. For generators like me, the signature of Self is satisfaction, while the Not-Self experience is frustration. Satisfaction indicates I’m aligned with my true purpose, while frustration signals the need for course correction.
I know from experience that when I’m aligned with my true self, I feel energized and grounded. This makes it easier to weather the dumpster fires of life while also fueling my creativity and anything else I’m called to do.
How does your Human Design relate to your routines?
As you consider what you want to accomplish in 2025 and where you stand on that journey, evaluate your current routines:
- What emotional states do you commonly experience?
- What do you want to feel?
- What activities will help you connect with those feelings?
- What needs to happen for you to give yourself permission to pursue what works for you instead of adhering to external expectations?
Here’s my confession: I admire Julia Cameron and understand why she suggests writing morning pages first thing in the morning. But I need sunlight and movement to regulate my nervous system and slow my brain down. This prepares me to write—something I do before checking email most days. Even if I only write for fifteen minutes (or five on the busiest days), I feel like the boss of my day rather than being bossed around by it.
The signature of satisfaction helps me be more present, compassionate, and clearer about what’s mine to do both on and off the page. I’m using this, and my new beloved writing group, to keep writing on even when the days are dark because stories connect us to our humanity and keep our hearts open. They remind us that while the world might be burning, beyond the clouds and smoke, there’s a blue sky above us.
Warmly,
Lisa
Love what you just read?
Get my weekly posts delivered to your inbox. As a special bonus, I’ll send you a FREE copy of my ebook, Write More, Fret Less: The Toolkit for Gaslight Proofing Your Writing Life.
Need a little nudge? See what my followers have to say.
I get something from every single newsletter I receive.
I have a short list of newsletters I regularly read. Lisa’s is one of them. I read every single one.
Your newsletters offer excellent reminders to check in with myself and understand my needs as a writer.
