DreamWard Bound- Separating Goals

by tiffanyDreamward bound, LifePosted on No Comments

For a while I looked at my ideal life and dreams as part of a whole. When I created goals they were not organized and did not have clear categories. They were all lumped together in the ideal life I would write out.

About five months ago I needed to re-energize my goals and become dreamward bound again. I needed a change, so I tried something new.

Instead of simply writing my ideal life out as one whole thing then separate it out into steps or goals I could take, I separated my ideal life into areas first and then made a plan.

I wrote how I wanted my spiritual life, writing life, visual arts life, physical health, mental life, and relationships to look. I took that information and asked myself how close I thought I could get in 5 years. I may have lofty goals, but my ideal life write-ups are also my 5 year goals.

I took my 5 year goals and asked how close could I see myself being in 1 year, then 6 months, then 3 months. It was easy to break the 3 months into 1 month and finally weekly goals.

Since I like bullet points and lists here is what I did in step form.

  1. Section out your life (Spiritual, relationship, hobby, career, mental, physical, emotion, etc)
  2. Write an ideal life for each of the sections.
  3. Write out how close you want to be in 5 years for the first section.
  4. Narrow your goals down to the top 3 for the section you are working on.
  5. Organize the 3 goals to Level A, Level B, and Level C goals (Level A being the highest/ most important)
  6. Create 1 year goals, 6 month goals, 3 months goals, 1 month goals, and finally 1 week goals.
  7. Repeat until all sections are completed.

As I reach each milestone I make adjustment notes and assess if the goals and organization still makes sense. So far it has made sense and helped me stay on track.

I can keep track of my plan. I know that I should focus on Level A goals before Level B goals. I also know that my spiritual life is more important than my writing. which is more important than my visual art.

If you are interested in creating goals I would highly recommend sectioning your life into different areas and creating you ideal areas of life. You can then make a plan easier to get to you ideal life.

Back From South Africa and I’m DreamWard Bound

by tiffanyDreamward boundPosted on No Comments

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My trip to South Africa was amazing and eye opening. The speed of life was different, the entire way of life was different. The only technology I used personally was a ipod shuffle and a camera. The shuffle was only on the plane ride over there and maybe a car ride when we were leaving the Church’s compound/ area. Inside the Church that we stayed at was a electric kettle, but besides that, lights, and the electronics other people brought  there was not any other high tech things there. This alone created a great time of focus on God, the community, and each other.

The people there were also something different. They had so little, but were happy. True they would try to get as much as they could, but when you have nothing even a lollipop is a wonderful treasure. The community we were in was filled with such pain. Family members would either die, most of the time from AIDS, or leave to find work. This left grandmothers caring for grandchildren and the older kids helping to raise the younger ones.

I loved loving on them and helping them. We gave some huts food parcels and dried soup. We also gave out quilts, since in the winter it actually gets cold. Each day that we taught the kids they went home with something special. One day we even were able to give them each a new outfit. They were so happy about that. The girls showed off their new dresses and the boys were super happy to have new shorts and a new shirt. We also prayed with the people who came to our eye glass clinic, where they also got new reading glasses. One day we prayed with the kids during their lesson. It was great fun to see how much we helped, even though they need more help.

Again, I need to say how awesome this trip was. We went on a few adventures, but I already went into more detail than I was planning on going into. I am sure I will be writing short stories about each fun adventure or story that was created during the trip.

This post was going to be telling you all about my new goals and only referencing Africa as the catalyst to my new goals and views on them. First big change is I went through and took out the goals that were just stressing me out. They were like the stale bread on my plate that I thought I needed to eat.

The first goal that I slid off my plate was my website. Once I have time I will come back and redo everything. For now it is up and running. It needs improving and if I have free time I may play around with it, but it is not a goal. Plus, it wasn’t really a working goal any ways. I was just poking at it and thinking I needed to work harder on it. It became a littler stress note.

The major thing I am taking off my plate is acting. It’s hard to do so and I love it, but my life right now can’t actually fit it on my plate. I am hoping that once I figure out how to free up my time I will reinstate this dream. At this moment I can’t try to act and write and work a full time job with at least 45 minutes of commute time. I mean I was trying to find monologues still and watch little lessons or tips when I could, but hadn’t been practicing, since right now my heart is focused on my writing projects.

I also tweaked my other goals and made them more do-able. My main focus will be on Godly studies and writing. I may write about my new goals, but for now the big changes to my life has been covered. Plus this is getting long and I do like keeping my updates on the shorter side.

 

DreamWard Bound Before My Trip

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If you know me or a random cashier that rang me up last night, you know that I am going to South Africa soon. I mean really soon, so this will be my last post for a few weeks.  I will try to post a video on YouTube. If I don’t post my send off video there I will at least tweet a signing-off type of tweet.

I don’t really have any other updates besides my trip. I mean it’s a big trip and I have been focusing on that all week. Plus I am working a little bit on my other projects, but nothing that I can really talk about. It’s all just working stuff out with them.

When I get back from my trip I am sure I will have more updates and things to talk about.

What Happened This Week- DreamWard Bound

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What happened this week? What did I do?

It seems like a long week, packed with work and social media. I have reasons for feeling like this week was focused on social media and the internet. I took a webinar, my improv troupe created social media accounts, and I am starting a new project that requires accounts. There are reasons why you have not heard about the new accounts that I helped set up and will be working with.

The improv troupe is still getting the promotional information up. We should be tweeting and posting later this week. When we do I will be retweeting and sharing posts.

The other project still needs some definition and to be smoothed out. It also needs images or at least a logo. When we have everything ready for that I will also be retweeting and sharing posts. I will also be talking about it more and giving you details.

In general I am going to try to be more social on social media. I am going to try to share more things that I think are interesting and basically just be more active. I learned a lot of tips while taking Amy Jo Berman’s  webinar about social media. I also had a few smiles when I realized I am doing some things right.

That being said once this site is on the right server I will be changing my site up. It will have 3 distinct areas. Each are will have its own feel and aspect of myself. This means that when you go to the home page there will be 3 sections to choose from (Actor, Author, and Artist). I will have the most recent blog post on the home page, but everything else will be under one of the other aspects. This way I can represent myself more clearly and fully. It is exciting to be making changes, but it will also be a lot of work.

Looking back on this post, it seems like a lot of it was what will happen. I promise I did do things. It takes work to set up awesomeness and I believe that all that is being set up now will be great.

I only have one link for you today. I only posted my weekly writing prompt

Getting Back Into A Rhythm Of Being DreamWard Bound

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I feel like I am getting back into being dreamward bound. My schedule is filled up with meet-ups directed towards my creative life. I am painting every month with a friend. I am writing/ editing with another friend every other week. Reading articles and tips about acting almost every day during breaks from work. I am also starting to work on getting my wardrobe audition ready. This means that I am trying to buy more professional looking clothes instead of just t-shirts and jeans. I am also getting back into shape and went back to BJJ for the first time in about a month.

Yes, after a hard time of being so busy, stressed, and drained my life if back on track. It may even be more on track than before. I at least feel more thankful and blessed now, which causes a greater happiness. Basically what I am trying to say is that life is good after a stressed out and draining month or two.

The only thing that is not so great is that it is taking longer for this site to be transferred over to HostGator’s servers, which means it is taking longer to get everything configured how I would like it and set up revenue.  Also, since I thought my site was going to be transferred over this week I did not want to post/ write things that may disappear if something went wrong.

That being said I only wrote my weekly writing prompt post.

Halloween Week DreamWard Bound

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This week I was packed full of work, Halloween and site stuff. I am in the process of transferring over this site to hostgator. I put on a Haunted House for my work. It was also my birthday on Thursday. Plus, I had to work a slightly later, which mean traffic. This week there was a lot of traffic in my life. It really was all traffic and Halloween crafts.

Yes, this week was busy, and I am happy that it is over. However, I am excited for the new things that will be coming to this site. I will be practicing my coding a bit more since I will have more control over the code. I will also be able to put ads on the site. I know it’s not great, but if I can get a little revenue from this site I can do more creative stuff. That means if I have ads I can post more fun things on this site.

Now, I am drained, but with the creativity of the Haunted House it is in a good way. I think I deserve the rest of the day to myself watching Shakespeare or vampires (not the sparkly kind).

Here is the list of what I did this week.

To A Dream Or Future

Remind Me When (A Poem)

Weekly Writing Prompt

Note: Links removed to site updates.

Resetting My Brain To Be More DreamWard Bound

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The past two or three weeks have been pretty stressful for me. I couldn’t figure out how to balance my day job, commute, and creative life. I just could not do it. I realized this week with a little help from a friend that I needed to step back and breathe. I needed to reset to see my projects as projects not stressers.

Taking a step back meant that I focused this week on resetting my brain and relaxing. I needed some rest, because I work 40 hours a week at my day job and then 20 hours (on a ‘good’ week) at my creative life. Most Saturdays now are focused solely on creative stuff. Sundays I force myself to not be creative. I basically burnt myself out and tried to keep going, until this week.

This week I took a break from everything. That is why I only posted one thing this week. I only worked on my creative life on Monday. The rest of the week was focused on helping friends, hanging out with them and not worrying.

I also took yesterday off of work to do errands and adult stuff that I never have time to do, so that is a load off my shoulders. I was going to be creative for most of the day, but adult stuff takes time and a friend was able to do lunch while my car was getting its oil change. Hanging out with my friend seemed like a good plan, especially since this weekend will be heavily focused on creative stuff. Today a friend and I are getting together for Caffeinated Creative Capers, which is basically us sitting in a coffee shop working on our projects together for 5 hours. Than on tomorrow I will be painting with another friend. We will be painting faces and on canvas, so I am looking forward to that.

Hopefully this packed weekend of creativity will complete the resetting of my brain and push me towards my goals and dreams quicker or at least help me get there. I know stress, worry, and a clouded head is the worst thing to have when trying to be creative. I just need to remember to make sure I clear away the cobwebs of everyday living regularly, I guess.

Now, I am going to prepare for being creative and leave you with the one thing I did this week.

Weekly Writing Prompt (#33)

Note: Links removed to site updates.

A Long Week For Being DreamWard Bound

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Work was a little crazy this week. One of our offices had a power outage for two days, which meant we covered for them. I also, did not feel like I was able to get into a good rhythm for the entire week. Every day just was a weird stress and distractions. This combination drained me and caused me to come home late at least 2 nights this week.

On top of that I am supposed to be switching to a hosting company, writing a web-series script, editing my book, and writing artistic posts for this blog. I have other projects or things I should be doing too, but those are my main focus at this time. I do want to do another recorded monologue, finish my kids’ book, work on my poetry art book and figure out the best way to start selling some art pieces. I just don’t have time to do everything I want.

I think it is needless to say, at least as far as explaining, but I am feeling an immense deal of pressure this week. I am wondering when a break in stress will come and looking for some free time. I don’t mean a day or so off of work, but a change in work, so that I can have time to actually follow my dreams. I know something needs to change. I just need to find out what and how. I like the company I work for and enjoy most of the work I do, when I’m not stressed.

It stinks that this stressful week came after only two weeks of artistically productiveness. I was hoping for a snowball effect. Instead it came to a screeching halt, which makes everything feel worst.

Thankfully there was some sunshine and happiness to this week. Last night I went to a friend’s band’s show. I took pictures and danced. It was a great stress release. It was also a wonderful boost in confidence when a college girl came up to me to request a song. She may have had a couple, but when I told her I would see what I could do. I mean the band’s set list was set and I wasn’t sure what songs they cover. They had already planned to play that song though. When I went back and told her she was thrilled. She was so happy that she started to shower me with compliments and hugs. I should restate, she was drinking that night and is a college girl. She loved everything about me and I’m going to accept the compliments. She also asked what I was studying as if I was a college student too. I smiled and told her I graduated college. Yeah, I got my bachelor’s degree 6 years ago and at least with my makeup done and in a dark room I look college age to a tipsy girl.

I also have some fun things planned for today, although I am would rather just stay home and work on my creative life. I know being social, helping a good cause and being around friends are good things though. I need balance in my life, so I am going to force myself to have balance and be happy.

Well, I’m going to finish this post like I always do. Here is a list of things I did this week.

Writing prompt

Could Be ( A Poem)

I Am A Soggy Bagel

Forcing Myself To Be DreamWard Bound

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The journey to my dreams seem long today. Maybe it’s because I am looking at how far I have to go. Maybe it’s because work was stressful this week. Maybe it’s because I did not sleep well last night. I did drink 2 cups of caffeinated tea later in the evening. Maybe it’s something else that I am unaware of. Whatever the reason my journey feels like it is really just starting out.

I did work last night on my future plan and I am trying to figure out extra income, so that I can actually save significant amounts of money. I want to be able to meet with an acting coach for guidance and to figure out the best plan of action. I also want to be able to afford some acting classes. I also want to take a year off to focus solely on acting and creative stuff.  It doesn’t look like my novel will be published any time soon and even when it is I don’t know how it will sell.

I do know that I have a list of shorter writing projects that I can put together. One that I am working on is a kids book taken from one of my short stories. I am going to sketch the 1st draft today. Another idea is to put together a collection of poetry and creating art for each of them. The art would become the different pages of the book with the poetry incorporated on the page. There are a few more ideas, but those are the two I am focusing on at this moment.

I am also still working on figuring out a web-series. I have gotten as far as knowing 3 character types I want and the set up of the episodes. I want at least 1 more character and not sure what exactly I want the ‘activity’ to be. I also have to think about locations. I mean if I decide a play rehearsal is the way to go, that would require a theater. If it is a role-playing game, that would require a home or something that could pass as a place where nerds would gather.

As you see there is still a lot to think about with the web-series. There is also a lot to think about with my writing side projects. There is also the whole acting career plan. That is actually turning into a life plan. I think I found out why my dreams feel so far away. I am actually looking at how big they are and all the little steps I am going to be taking now. I am also working hard towards them with planning and creating.  Yeah, I am either heading for a breakthrough or a mental break down.

While I figure out where I am going please take a minute to read where I’ve been or watch. I did publish a video this week. Anyways here is the list of things I shared this week.

Choice and Action

Black Clad Assassin

Giving Art

Second-Hand (A Poem)

Weekly Writing Prompt (#28)

Oh, and I also published a Goal Getters onto my personal channel.

A DreamWard Bound Post From Far, Far Away

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Okay, maybe I’m not far, far away. I may feel like I am, but I am actually home. The feeling of being in a different galaxy comes from watching all the Star Wars movies (except for episode 1) yesterday. It was a great experience. I now can say I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies(except for episode 1). I really enjoyed the movies. The only issue is that I have been watching 4 hours or less of television weekly. I only watch television with my friends now and maybe a couple of YouTube videos. By the last movies I had a hard time finishing. I was entering a movie overload. I did finish and finished without my eyes bleeding or my brain exploding.

The marathon of awesomeness is why I did not post this week’s DreamWard Bound yesterday. I woke up, went to my friends’ house, watch Star Wars, came home, and went to bed. That was my day yesterday. It was crazy for me that I did nothing on my Saturday, which is typically my blog/ artistic work day. I am thankful, that I have tomorrow off of work. I will be able to edit and write. I might even find time to do a video.

I did do some things to move forward in my journey to my dreams. I am sure I did do some stuff.

Let’s see I published some posts, all of which were still from my vacation. Also, I did some research into film companies or groups around me. It was not really successful research, since I am stuck between “beggars can’t be choosers” and “I don’t want my name associated with that type of video.” Basically the level of quality is not great, but I need to start somewhere.

I will be doing more searches and looking for other productions that I hopefully can audition for. That will be an ongoing thing. I am pretty sure I will always be looking for auditions and new productions, since that is the way of an actor.

I am also, publishing/ moving over my Goal Getter’s series to my channel. So far, I have published the introduction and the first 3 steps. More will be published this week.

Here is the list of other things I published this week.

To Sleep

Stories (A poem)

Writing with colors

My Ring

Weekly Writing Prompt