Operation Achieve Anything: Day Two-Hundred-Fifty-One, Dateline 9-8-2018
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“A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. ”
Good morning crickets. Welcome to day number two-hundred-fifty-one of Operation Achieve Anything. Yesterday’s assignment was to reflect on the first two-hundred-fifty days that I’ve spent with the Achieve Anything… book. Since I habitually use such reflections to transition to the assignment portion of these posts, I’m going to skip the intro and dig right in.
First off, I bought Achieve Anything In Just One Year by Jason Harvey specifically to be a TheWickerBreaker.com challenge because I had a specific goal in mind that I wanted to document its development process. I mention this because I feel it’s important to note that I came into this with a purpose as opposed to someone who was floundering for ideas or looking to this book to inspire their goal. I knew what I wanted to achieve and was hopeful this book would help me get there.
Since the title was focused on achieving anything, I was expecting, at least, somewhat of a procedural guide as opposed to a typical self-help book that, as the genre suggests, mainly focuses on preparing the self for achievement. I was excited by this because I was deep in a rut just before starting the My Saturday Night Life challenge. This challenge was meant to work as a distraction while trying to figure out the business side and way to profit from my writing in general. The ultimate goal for the end of the challenge was to get to the point where I have a professional draft of my first novel that I could then start to self-publish next year, hoping to use the steps from the book to then achieve self-publishing at the end of year two.
Though I bought the book right after finding it while searching for potential my next challenge, before I was fulling committed to attempting My Saturday Night Life. I was in too dark of a place to commit to a challenge where an essential ingredient for success would be, the ability to believe in myself. Though I was ready to climb out of my hole, I needed something much lighter to work on first, and now I’m six-hundred-fifteen episodes deep into this SNL Challenge, that brought back my enthusiasm toward life enough to inspire me to start Operation Achieve Anything even though I wasn’t done clearing my plate.
This is the main reason why I combined The Daily Breaker with this challenge, though I was feeling great, I wasn’t up for having to write three posts a day. I decided that I wanted to commit to this second challenge during NaNoWriMo 2016, which I was using to create a deadline for rewriting my first novel. This is where I developed the self-publishing angle as the “Anything” that I aimed to achieve. This meant that I had a who month of anticipation, with the game plan to initiate Operation Achieve Anything on New Year’s Day, as I do with most of my year-long challenges.
Having worked myself into almost a manic state over the potential success that could come from either the challenge itself or the results of the promised end-of-one-year-achievement, I was ready to hit the ground running on January 1rst 2017. The very first assignment was!?!?!? Go to the store and buy a notebook. Oh, how exciting… I’m a writer, I can’t throw a rock without hitting a notebook from when I bought them in bulk before I jotted down all of my quick notes onto my phone.
Though I was admittedly disappointed, I was willing to play along. I was also willing to play along the entire first few weeks as the lessons focused on standard creative writing practices, as well as other self-help techniques and concepts to work as a warm-up. When the book was still dishing out standard self-help concept and bumper sticker talk, a month-and-a-half in. I started to prepare myself for an entire year’s worth of this nonsense.
Keep in mind, there was a period of my life where I was self-help book obsessed because I thought I was a genius using the genre as a way to broaden my character choices. The idea was, I could use both the before and after character traits that each self-help book claimed it would be able to resolve as fodder for content, while at the same time implementing any useful discovery into my personal life. I did this for a couple of years and would use Audilbe.com to get at least one free book a month.
I don’t know if these books actually help me or my characters, but I did spend a lot of time learning all of the basic of the self-help genre which is why I was extra disappointed to find that this book that I thought would be more procedure turned out to be nothing but more of the same. I’ve yet to give up because I don’t like to give up on a blog challenge, plus it seems to be generating placebo-like traits as I attempt to figure out the procedural technics that the Achieve Anything… book lacks.
I back-burnered the self-publishing goal because as the challenge continued on, I kept coming up with new ideas to work on while I waited to the book to finally get off the topic of how I feel about me, which is my job to do, I needed something else to do. The main focus now is to get this blog up to a professional level as opposed to the hobby of a site that it started out to be.
The first step is a big one, which I’ve covered in the past couple of posts where I learned after buying a new computer, the third-party spellchecker that I used wasn’t properly communicating with the blog publishing site that I use and was not committing any of the changes being made during the editing process. I’ve known this for several months and have been tempted to just ignore since this was still just a hobby of a site at the time.
I recently started to experiment with advertising on the site and am beginning to see the tiniest of a profit. Since I put in as much time, if not more into this site than I do with my day job, I figure now is the time to start to treat this site like the real hard work that it is. In order to do so, I need to go back and make it more presentable and start by fixing all of the typos that came from this spellchecker issue. It’s probably going to take two or three months worth of hard work and no guaranteed pay, but that’s just how committed I am to working toward my dreams.
I’ve been putting this off, not because I’m lazy, but I’m so not into the business and marketing side of life. I keep telling myself that as soon as I find a way to earn enough through my paid work, I’d hire a professional editor because I know that with my dyslexia, I will need a second set of eyes before I even attempt to actively promote my attempts to share my words. Through the five years that I’ve put into the site, I finally feel that I’m to the point where the errors I generate maybe there but are no longer as distracting as they were in the past when I used writing for the screen as a way to disguise my lack of technical abilities.
This motivation came from me, but it might not have if I didn’t have the disappointment of the Achieve Anything… book not working, in the back of my mind. Here’s what I would have liked to see, and what I hope to write someday. I don’t fear being ripped off if I share this, in fact, I would love if other self-help gurus would take this idea and run with it so that there might be more self-help books that focus on actually getting things done instead of got recycling the idea that all that it takes is a well-working inner self. Yes, that helps, but I want a book that actually tells people how to get things done.
Here’s what my book would be:
Harsh Introduction - My book would start with a harsh introduction about what it takes to succeed in a given field. Like, if I were to write a book about making it as a film crew member, I would share that there was going to be a lot of hard work, times where you’re expected to work for free, times where you can’t find gigs, you’ll have to be able to cope with fickle friends who may disappear the moment a project is complete, you have to have thick skin, and unless you’re on the screen, in charge of the camera, or yelling action and cut you’ll probably not be appreciated.
I would share these harsh truth with the reminder that when you do finally make it, it will feel like it’s just another job. I would intentionally scare anyone who was only half interested off with the back page alone. I know this would go against any modern marketer, but the gamble would be that the blatant honesty might catch the attention of people who already work in the field, who may then suggest it to any newcomers that may ask them for advice until it becomes a bit of a bible for whichever focused industry I’d be advising.
Though I used my experience working in film crews for this example, that would not be the focus of my book, it’s a great example of an area where I would highly recommend never starting in the first place unless you are really able to accept failure, even when you actually win. This is what inspired my idea to start out so harsh.Self-Help/Warming Up Phase – Though I don’t like this Achieve Anything… book because it is so self-help-based, I do think the genre has sound advice that should be brought up in this type of book. I would remind readers just how much failure goes into each successful person, but I’d find a way that was relevant while using my own worlds as someone who’s actually been there. I’d avoid anything that would make the book feel like it was written from a template that I bought from some self-help “guru” who promises profits over offering genuine advice or solutions. This would be really quick and designed to prepare the reader for the upcoming work to come.
Developing Ideas – In the harsh intro, I’d suggest that the reader already have an idea by the time that they start this book’s challenge. I’d then offer recommendations to established idea generating content before sharing a few field specific idea-generating techniques for people who may want to reuse the book for a second or third attempt, knowing, most people will either read it straight through before attempting the daily challenge aspect or may have multiple false starts. This is another reason why these initial stages would be so brief.
I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve started challenges in the past where I dread the bits where the author, understandingly, treats you like a complete rookie, since most people who’ve already made it don’t need this type of book. At the same time, the harsh intro should provide the warning that the book would be for people who are at more of a “what do I do now?” phase over being for a clean slate.Planning – This would be another brief one where you would put out that there are better books out there for planning in general. This section would be more about taking what the reader already knows about the planning process to develop the particular goal that inspired them to buy this book. Again, most self-help books that I read remind me of back in the day when I would but how to books for computer software and being a completist, I would get stuck having to read how to open the software by clicking on it, then save a file by… blah, blah, blah.
Though I get why these chapters were/are there, we now have the internet to get any potential novice caught up. Sure, there’s probably more of a market for writing for beginners but it’s the intermediate people who really could get the most value out of these types of books, so I’d give the readers that respect. Beginners will read the book either way and more likely than not, give up on the process before even getting to this planning stage. It’s the intermediates who commit to the end, and if the book is good, they’ll be the ones buying the book as gifts to the beginners you may have scared off.Implement The Plan – This is where the fun starts and being that I would only write a book like this for something that I have real-life experience with, this advice would come from the heart and not from a bunch of research. This is where you’d acknowledge the industry rumors, like in my film crew example if you view film as an art form it’s better to keep that to yourself until you have the power to get things done on your own because even the indie world is money driven these days. Anyone who tells you any differently is either someone who’s worked to the point where they now have the power or are dreamers who can’t get anything done, with a majority of the people you’ll meet falling into the latter category.
Develop Supplemental/Side Projects To Fill Time While Steps Are Marinating Or Are In The Other Person’s Side Of The Court – Sometimes these books treat their suggested task like it is a genuine foolproof recipe where you’ll put a letter in the mail, and by the end of the week you’ll have your answer. Meanwhile, there will be millions of reasons why you can end up held up in a phase, and it will be entirely out of your control. This is why my book would have the one-year time frame but would be more phased based so this section would be to suggest ways to keep moving forward during inevitable downtimes.
Like how right now, at first, I was just going to casually clean up this site while attempting to start a side project that has more potential to generate an income over this rambling personal blog. I currently get paid monthly, and due to bad timing, I found myself a full month out before my paycheck could afford for me to start. I was just going to ride the wait out but then one day, while bored, I just randomly started to clean one of my older SNL reviews up to see how my new idea for a layout would look.
I liked what I saw so much, that I reversed the order of priority. Hopefully, if I clean up this site enough, it will build my confidence to the point where I will do more than used my personal social media to promote it so that when I’m ready with my money making ideas, I might have more of a built-in audience from people who might like this page. So, the suggestion for this phase would be similar types of projects that are connected and detached at the same time so that all eggs aren’t in one basket, which has been my most significant personal struggle throughout my life.
All of my eggs were in a screenwriting basket that I built in my early twenties. Though I’ve always had several projects going at once but I was so hell-bent on being the next quirky indie writer that I failed to develop a backup plan. This is why, when I gave up on writing screenplays, my writing was so specific to the screenplay structure that it felt like I couldn’t even write since I chose screenwriting in the first place because I didn’t think I was any good a writing standard prose. I still think my writing needs a lot of work but, thanks to over five years of posting daily on this site, I feel practiced enough to where I now feel like I have some options.What To Do Once You Landed Your First Victory Or Failure: For self-help books, a lot of them focus on how to handle failure, going so deep into how common it is to fail over and over and over again before you will even taste success. I rarely see advice on how to handle your first success. This would have been really helpful for me when I got my first and only taste of success with one of my feature-length screenplays.
I was so young and naïve that I fully expected just having the sketch in their hands meant that I was done with my work. Well, I still thought I’d have to do work but I thought they would take care of the business and promotions side, I’d just have to make any rewrites if that would come about. I landed a literary agent using this approach and once again, I had no idea what to expect and what was expected of me.
I must have looked like an idiot to my agent when we finally met in person, as I rambled on about anything, but my plans for an actual writing career. I thought having him meant that I made it, keeping in mind I was in my early twenties and at the time, only experienced through screenwriting books, that again, only shared how to handle the never-ending rejection. Since I have yet to really gain any experience at making it yet so, I don’t really have any examples, but that would be the plan if I ever got to the point where I felt like I had the advice to share.How To Turn The Eventual First Victory Into A Phase Two – Chances are this first victory won’t be the big one and probably won’t even be as big as the two examples in the last step. No, this will probably be something like getting a reply from an introductory email and an agreement to take a meeting. Again, I’d suggest other books for readers who want more advice on how to handle a meeting or use etiquette when writing a profession response, this would offer more advice on the types of things to bring up and avoid, again, being industry specific.
Again, I don’t have as much experience in this area which is why I’m not rushing out to write this book, but I would be the next step since to avoid an incident like the one that I had with my agent who I never heard from again, once the deal fell through the cracks. This is also an area where it would help to advise as someone who worked in the field and not just as a technical writer relaying researched concepts.Sealing The Deal – Of course, there’d be sections in between that would cover failing phase two and/or finding other options, but I’m not actually writing this book right now and need to get to wrapping this thing up. This section would cover things to look out for before you accept the deal in order to make sure that it remains a dream and not some kind of small print hidden curse. After this there could/would be how to handle day one, and how to finish off a project in a way that will lead to more work.
If you like this idea and are an expert in any field, feel free to steal this structure, just thank me somewhere if I was an influence. I’m sure there are already books out there that follow a similar concept, so I don't think it's all that groundbreaking but up until now, a bulk of the self-help books that I’ve come across feel like they more helpful to the writer’s pocket as the self over actually providing help to the audience. It wouldn’t be as bad if these books also didn’t feel like they were written by someone who was inspired by a get rich quick Facebook ad.
I had no intention of writing this long of a post when I sat down to fulfill this assignment yet, here we are. As for today’s assignment, I’m now supposed to make a new friend. I don’t know how this is going to happen considering I’m pretty much stranded at home with no reason to venture out and a butt load of work to get to. We’ll see how I end up handling it with tomorrow’s post, but until then, it’s now that time for me to wrap this thing up as usual by saying, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.
Talk to you soon.
Sincerely,
The Wicker Breaker
P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.
