A few days ago, I saw another author, Tawna Fenske, had shared on her wall that her husband had made her a drool-worthy To-Do board, but above it was a cork board entitled “Shit to be proud of in 2019.” She said about the board that “it was a gift to myself. I have a tendency to get so caught up my urge to be hyper-productive that I forget to pause and pat myself on the back for things I’ve achieved. On days where I’m knocked down a peg by a bad review or a book that’s not flowing the way I want it to, I’ll be able to glance up and go, ‘Hey, dumbass, you actually did some good stuff in the last 12 months.'”
You know what? She is absolutely right. In making my year-end Newsletter post, I realized, to my surprise, that I’d release three books in 2018. THREE!! Me, the part-time author. That is the sort of thing that needs to go on a brag board!
It is beyond frustrating to me that I tend to get stuck on the things that didn’t go my way, vs the things that did: A book release ‘failed,’ I wasn’t invited to a signing, or even a simple word count goal wasn’t met. I’m building a rain cloud over my writing without even realizing it. I need to cut that crap out. Time to let the sunshine in.
Here is my brag board. An empty magnetic whiteboard. By December 2019, my goal is to have this filled with positivity. I’ll be focusing my board on things that happened in my writing career but these could be used in any part of yours or your kid’s lives. You could even do a scrapbook instead of a board. I prefer this board. It sits right beside me. Right in my line of sight. Right next to my keyboard, ready to shine its light on me.
In March, I’ll report back on how the board is going. In the meantime, I invite you to take this challenge with me. Let’s do all the good things together in 2019!
Danielle Bannister, Author 