Early this morning twenty-five or so women filed into the conference room at the Kirkland Public Library for networking, chocolate, and motivational speaking on “Goal Setting in the New Year” by author Mary Buckham. This was my first meeting as a member of the Greater Seattle Romance Writer’s of America. After introducing ourselves and announcing our personal good news and bad, which ranged from having a cold to having a manuscript published, we settled in to discover the secrets of realizing our destinies.

Ms. Buckham started off with some Numerology good news: apparently 2008 is an auspicious year for new beginnings, because 2 plus 8 adds to 1. We must use this opportunity to embrace our passion in life by identifying the beliefs that hold us back from realizing those goals and the actions we can take everyday that will bring us one step closer to those goals.

“You are right-sized,” she assured us. “Everything you need is coming toward you – you need only to meet it, not raise your fist to fight for it.”

Two days ago on the plane back home from Costa Rica, I read the same sentiment in the novel The Alchemist by Paul Coelho.

The Alchemist is the story of a young shepherd from Andalusia who wanders the countryside with his flock because when he was younger he wanted to travel. He has a dream about finding a treasure at the great pyramids of Egypt, and risks all in pursuit of his dream. Along the way he is counseled by the angel Melchizedek, whose job it is to help people realize their destinies. Melchizedek tells him that all people realize early on in life what their personal destinies are, but at some point they stop believing that they are in control of their lives and give up on the pursuit of that destiny.

“The soul of the world is nourished by people’s happiness,” he says. “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one.”

The world’s greatest lie: That we are not in control of our own lives.

The world’s greatest truth: “Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the Soul of the Universe. It’s your mission on earth….and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

And in another international bestseller (harhar), the sentiment is found again, though with the word “God” in place of “Soul of the Universe”: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

So what does this mean to us?

We can take this opportunity of the start of a new year to strategize how best to achieve our life goals. Ms. Buckman led us in a series of questions designed to do just that:

• What do you feel passionate about?
• What beliefs do you have about the things you are passionate about?
• What is an action that you can do today that will bring you closer to that goal?
• What is an action that you can do this week that will bring you closer to that goal?
• What are five actions that you’ve been telling yourself you don’t have time to do?
• If you don’t change, what is it going to cost you?
• If you do take that action, what will the result be?

She recommended keeping a journal as a strategy for obtaining our goals. Firstly because a goal that is written down is 85% more likely to manifest itself. Secondly to give thanks for the little things in life everyday (and write them down), which will help manifest more good things in our lives. And thirdly to create a roadmap for realizing our goals by writing down information and phrases that resonate with us.

She shared some of the pearls of wisdom that she had written in her journal:

• Success is the ongoing process to become more.
• Ultimate power is the ability to take what you desire most and create value for other people.
• “For every question in the universe there are a limited number of ‘no’- you just have to wait for that one ‘yes’.” – Madeleine L’Engle
• Fear is a 4-letter word.
• “I don’t want my tombstone to say ‘she did a hell of a job with the laundry’.”

It’s that last one that really resonates with me; I spend much of my time thinking “I need to clean before I can start writing” and then so much time cleaning, that I never get any writing done. I’m going to put this quote up above my desk.

At the end of the meeting we all wrote down our personal goal for the month and dropped it and a dollar bill into a jar. At next month’s meeting everyone who achieved her goal will put her name back in the jar for a raffle to win the pot. My goal for this month: write 40,000 words of my manuscript. Now it’s your job to keep me honest. If I get in a slump, please bitch-slap me out of it. This year is our year – we can do it!