Stephanie Bond was several years into a corporate computer programming career when an instructor in her night school MBA program remarked that she had a flair for writing and encouraged her to submit one of her projects to academic journals. "But," Stephanie says, "all I could think was 'I wonder if I could write a romance novel?'" Bond grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky where the entertainment choices were few. Luckily, she had a beloved aunt who shared her passion for reading. "When she visited once a year, she brought boxes and boxes of gothic novels by Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and lush historical romances--I was in heaven! So suddenly thinking about writing in the genre of the books I loved was very exciting." After writing every spare moment for two years, Stephanie sold her first romantic comedy manuscript, IRRESISTIBLE? to Harlequin books. Two years later, she walked away from her corporate career to write commercial fiction full time. To date, she's published over 60 romance and mystery projects with Random House, St. Martin's Press, HarperCollins, and Mira Books, and is most well-known for her BODY MOVERS humorous mystery series. Her latest book is 7 BRIDES FOR 7 BODIES. Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta and is probably working on a story at this very moment.
External url: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Steps-Create-Your-short-ebook/dp/B008BFCIF6
Tags: New Life
Take a few moments to inventory your values and achievements. Are you happy and fulfilled, or bored and restless? Maybe you’re simply confused and directionless! Before you design a Life List, it’s good to get a sense of where you are now and where you want to finish, so to speak. One way to jump start the Life List exercise is to list five adjectives that describe you now (be honest), and five adjectives you hope will describe you in the future (be optimistic).
Please refer to the book for more details on this activity.
The 5 adjectives that describes me are
Now what would be the next step?
Divide your Life List activities into distinct categories that are meaningful to you, such as: -
Classifying Life list into categories is a tough thing for me. It never happens. I am frickle-minded and can't get things right in my mind. Need some help - could anyone suggest me something?
When I classified, I found majority of my day iis occupied with to-do and career related activites. Even if I am giving myself some time - it is for my improvement in my profession. No fun, no self -motivation. Feels mechanical.
Here it goes.....
Housekeeping
Parents
Creativity
Gratitude
Livelihood
FItness Goals
Love life
Me (spiritual me)
The activities that I have in mind are;
1. Raise some funds for my friend Sally's treatment for Fibromyalgia.
2. I need to remodel my house, for these I need to meet the interior decorator.
3. There is a trip that needs to be plan.
4. The wedding!!
This is the fun part! Enlist friends and/ or relatives and make a party out of creating your Life Lists. (I do this with friends every year on New Year’s Day, and it’s always a blast!) Moving from category to category, ask each other exhaustive questions to begin adding items to your individual Life Lists. You’ll be surprised at what you find out about people that you never knew!
Not sure but trying to give it a fresh try!
Really fun!
It tried mylifelist.org. It is cool - celebrating life. I am just starting. It would be too early to give a concrete feedback.
Now I need to create my own life list. It appears so dull... I am having guest this weekends - will ask questions then..
Now that you have a rough draft of your Life List, loosely prioritize the items in an order that makes sense to you, such as which items will most impact your life, which items are most attainable in the near future, or which items will have to be done first for other items to follow (obtain a passport, for instance). You might even arrange items by the amount of time it will take to achieve them so that at a glance, you can select the activities that will take only 10 minutes.
Great that I prioritized my day last night. It has saved me precious hours in the morning. I could just straight jump to the task without thinking what's next!
So many things pending! Good that I sat making a priority list.
By committing your Life List to paper or other medium, you become more accountable to your list— suddenly it’s tangible. Record your prioritized Life List in a way that is most convenient and motivating to you— in a spiral bound notebook, in a luxurious journal, on a poster board for your office, in an electronic spreadsheet, in your Smartphone— and keep your Life List close to your hand.
If, like most people, you tend to begin projects with zest, then lose focus, write on your calendar reminders to revisit your life list throughout the coming year, such as the same day every month.
I have also recorded my things in a journal and now in my phone. I also assigned special rintones to remind me. Hopefully, now my life will be bit better.
Feeding all the important things on my iPhone. Pen and paper isn't working.
Not sure, but I have been doing this for sometime. It keeps me motivated and goal-oriented!
I have a life list in the form of a board in my bed room. I have sticked many images, memories. When I look at it - I feel so good. All the good memories at one place.
Plan your course of action to achieve the items on your Life List— perhaps reserve the same time every day (over morning coffee) or the same time every week (after reading the Sunday newspaper) for Life List activities. Also, train yourself to look for opportunities to make progress on your list during snatches of unexpected free time.
Stolen moments during your commute or at lunch can help you chip away at your list. Even the smallest success will inspire you to keep going.
Right now I have an extreme desire to go out.. I just want to run away from these chaos. Can't stand it.
I am acting right after one year... :) But going to act is something big enough to make me smile. I have decided to go out once every month.. staying without mobile phone and create a journal with fun and adventure.. I don't want to die with a regret ..
Not only this "ACT" is a great time management tip but also it deals with my lost serenity. I made a few calls today while I was on my way to office. I got a chance to know that there is a party next weekend from Paul, my uni buddy. He is getting engaged.
If I didn't call I would have missed a big chunk of fun and friendship out from my life.
Devise cues that in the midst of the daily grind, will remind you of your dreams. For example, a character in my humorous romantic mystery novel Got Your Number who has “Backpack across Europe” on her Life List wears a travel watch with two faces, with one face set to London time.
It is important to be diligent about tackling items on your life list - remember, ultimately your list will rescue you from being mired in.
Working hard on dream project.. It's lot of hardwork but super fun! Thoroughly enjoying, how I am laying down the structure, maintaining the usefulness and keeping it minimal. I realized, I got our ife so much cluttered with things we don't even need. This is life-changing project where I am creating my childhood dream - bringing it to reality.
I will persist, until I succeed..
I read it somewhere. Since then it is engraved in me. Motivates me to not to give up. Don't require my list much.
Life actually wired me up. I never know I need to persist and cue myself to the item on my lists.
I have keychain.. that reminds me of a chilhood dream.. home on wheels.
Soon enough, I would fulfil it!!
Don’t forget to formally “check off” the items you achieve, and to celebrate your achievements in a way that enriches the experience even more. Get together with other Life-Listers occasionally to compare and discuss everyone’s accomplishments and perhaps update your list. My own Life List has morphed tremendously over the years and expanded to a loose scrapbook.
You might even consider creating a website or blog for your Life List so that friends and relatives can follow along! (And when you make your Life List public, you’ll feel even more accountable!)
Everytime I celebrate, obviously not by spoiliing myself but in good way... I find myself more motivated towards my goal. I work harder two times harder to do it.
I have sticked a goal cum to-do list on my refridgerator door. Every morning it just push me to work hard..
I know, I celebration time is about to ring my doorbell.