One of our best days last year. Near Sisters, Oregon, USA. Feb. 21, 2021.
Hello, and welcome to Day Two of 2022!
Yesterday, the temperature hovered just above freezing as Chris and I drove through Portland on the way to a New Year's Day hike. The city was still. Few people were out. But as I drove, I noticed something striking: Many of the people who were out? They were smoking.
It made me laugh — not at the smokers, not at all. I laughed only because I've spent the past couple of weeks thinking and reading about goal-setting and New Year's resolutions and whether they really work. Smoking is always a biggie. Most smokers want to quit; most probably consider doing so on New Year's Day. But out on the cold Day One of so many resolutions, here in Portland there were a bunch of people lighting up.
Maybe New Year's Day 2022 wasn't the right day to quit smoking. It's none of my business. It's not easy being a human right now, and resolutions are personal. We're always constructing new versions of ourselves, no matter what the calendar says.
That said, I've always enjoyed spending the first few days of the New Year considering what I want from the next 365 or so days. This January is an especially good moment for me to reflect: I've just finished writing my book, Windfall, which will be out this time next year. I'm at a major life and career turning point. I have several ideas about what to do next, but they all need tending and structure.
So I thought I'd walk you through how I decided to approach one of the projects I want to do next, with links to the resources that helped me sketch out how to get there in 2022. (And yes, it goes almost without saying: It's a huge privilege to consider how we want to spend our days. As the writer Nan Sheperd said: "It's a grand thing, to get leave to live.")
REFLECTION
It all began with examining what worked and what didn't work in 2021. I went back and looked at the goals I wrote down at the front of my planner. (I use a Planner Pad organizer as well as my Google calendar.)
I took a free class with Mitchell Rigie on Creative Mornings to learn how to use SMART goals to craft resolutions that work. (More on SMART goals below.) I also used the reflection worksheets in this online course with Danielle LaPorte, which costs only $20 if you cancel after the first month. One of the things I loved in the course was identifying my best days, and reflecting on what made them so great. Many were spent outside with the people I love. Some were spent talking to strangers for articles I was writing or for my book. Others were spent driving through beautiful country, with my camera and a good playlist and my dog and my thoughts.
From all this reflection I realized that I nailed a couple of key goals from 2021: I got my book done! I wrote morning pages most days. I took a screenwriting class. I got to see my family! Chris and I finally replaced our deck. We got vaccines!
But I failed, too. I did not save much money for retirement; in fact, my freelance writing business ran at a loss in 2021. I dipped into nearly all of my personal savings to float myself an operating loan until the second installment of my book advance arrives in a few months. I haven't paid off a new camera yet. I didn’t get any of the six grants I applied for. My writing group fell apart, which was a creative disappointment. I also didn't go on solo backpacking trip or exercise as much as I wanted to — these were tradeoffs I made to meet my book deadline. And even though I got to see my family, like many people this year, I struggled with loneliness and connection.
My worst days in 2021, I realized, were often out of my control, especially in a year that continued to be shaped by the pandemic. This was the year I also realized I couldn't fit in everything I wanted to do. I had to say no to being an entry-level producer on a documentary team making a film about climate change, for example. I couldn't devote time to the screenplay I started. I gave up a big story in North Dakota that I should have done. I abandoned Instagram pods designed to help writers draw more social media followers. I relied almost entirely on my husband to make dinner.
But I also learned I could do the things most important to me, and from that, began identifying two goals for 2022, both connected to my book: Reporting, pitching and placing big article about mineral rights before Windfall's release, and recutting the short companion film to the book.
MOVING TOWARD/AWAY FROM
I made a "moving toward" and "moving away" diagram for more personal goals around wellbeing. Things I want more or less of in my life. Like: Move toward lifting heavier weights and away from pandemic sugar habit. And: More uninterrupted reading, less mindless scrolling. I like the template from Moon Lists, which makes beautiful journals and offers delightfully weird writing prompts.
I did some additional reflection on New Year's Day itself, using the Five Lists journaling prompt from the writer Suleika Jaouad. (These prompts are really good — all you need, really.)
TIME MANAGEMENT
Then I read Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, and highlighted something on nearly every page. Buy or borrow this book! Here's a good summary of it. Here is a favorite quote from it:
"The core challenge of managing our limited time isn’t about how to get everything done—that’s never going to happen—but how to decide most wisely what not to do, and how to feel at peace about not doing it. The real measure of any time management technique is whether or not it helps you neglect the right things."
YEARLY KEYWORD
From all of this, I started to develop a theme word for 2022: consistency. At first I thought it was kind of a boring keyword for the year. But here, for example, is why consistency matters: I sleep better when I get 12,000 steps in a day --> when I sleep well, I wake up early to write, beginning with morning pages --> when I write daily morning pages, I am more creative --> I achieve my creative goals when I use my project management template effectively and consistently. You get the picture. So consistency it is.
SMART GOALS
Finally, I took the lessons from the SMART goals class at Creative Mornings, and applied them to my goal to recut my film:
Goals need to be specific. It can't just be "I want to make a documentary," although that is a general starting point. It has to be more like: "I want to recut/re-envision my documentary to enter it into regional and environmental film festivals by the end of 2022, so that I can use it to help promote my book in 2023." (I don’t think you can get to this level of specificity without some serious reflection.)
Successful goals have to be measurable, which seems pretty fairly straightforward, but this is actually where a lot of the actual work gets done. It's here where you must identify the steps necessary to achieve your goals. I have to figure out if there's someone who can help me with accountability or mentorship, and reach out to them. Is there a grant or fellowship I can apply for to gain technical expertise from other filmmakers? What measurable steps can I take to find funding for this project? How do I fit it into the paying work I need to do? And I need to figure out whether I can adapt to the film some of my existing, successful systems for finishing projects. Basically: How can I put structure to my creativity, to help me organize my goal and bring it into existence? All of this is going in a project management document, the same type I used to complete my book.
Goals must also be achievable. Note that I'm not trying to make an "Oscar-winning documentary." I'm making something on a smaller scale that aligns with my skillset, talents and technical capacity.
To be successful, the goal has to be relevant, which means of intrinsic value to me, and not tied up in other people's expectations. (This is probably the hardest part of the process, where it's necessary to consider why you want to do what it is you set out to do. It probably should be the first or second step, to be honest.) I've already spent quite a bit of time over the past few years shooting footage and making a draft version of the film, which has been a pleasurable creative pursuit, as well as an intellectually and artistically challenging one. I have a more-than-adequate draft film. Whatever happens next is dependent on my personal ambition and cash flow.
And finally, a goal has to be time bound, which means it has to be something constrained by a deadline. (Mostly, I just need to identify film festivals and set deadlines around applying to them.)
So now you all know one of my main goals for the year. By sharing it with you, I'm making myself accountable — I promise to update you on April 10 with a three-month progress report. I'm also making myself vulnerable. All of you will know if I fail, and I'll be embarrassed.
But I'm also opening myself to possibility. Maybe some of you will know grants or fellowships I can apply for, or a rich benefactor who likes helping aspiring filmmakers, hah! Or film festivals that would be an appropriate fit for my project. Maybe you know someone who wants to collaborate on an original score. Maybe you, too, are looking for an accountability partner, or a framework for your own 2022 aspirations.
Or maybe you just want to use these tips to stop smoking, learn to budget or to eat healthier. This is the week that everything seems possible, and I’m here for it!
Happy new year!
Love,
Erika
P.S. It’s boring, backend stuff, but after experimenting with several email service providers, The Windfall Dispatch is now on Substack. It gives me the option to add a paid tier to the newsletter someday. But good news! None of you will ever have to pay. I set it up so that all subscribers as of Dec. 31, 2021 have lifetime free subscriptions. It’s a big thank you to everyone who’s been subscribing for the past eight years. I’m so glad you’re all here!
THE NEWS
All the links…
On the shortest day of the year, I saw this fungus while hiking half of the 30-mile Wildwood Trail in Portland’s Forest Park. (17 miles total, and 16 on the trail itself.) I’d like to walk the full length of the trail on the longest day of the year, so mark your calendars for June 21, if you’d like to join me for a portion or all of it.
Speaking of long walks, these hikers set out to finish three of America’s longest trails in less than a year.
For Stateline, I wrote about the effect of short-term housing on the tourism towns of the West. I hope to write way more about housing in the coming year — I barely scratched the surface. Please reach out with tips!
Your yoga pant link of the week is the book Let’s Get Physical, a history of women’s fitness in America by Danielle Friedman. It’s a delightful read for many reasons, but especially for the history of the leotard!
The Buddha said you’ve been misquoting these inspirational sayings your whole life.