Lessons from Goal Getter School: Sarah McKee

Episode 13

Lessons from Goal Getter School: Sarah McKee

Sue Campbell

The new year is coming and I want you to be well prepared to set goals in a new and more effective way, so I’m bringing you interviews with students from my Goal Getter School for Writers.

In this episode, I’m talking with the writer Sarah McKee. Sarah is a mother and wife who loves writing and being outdoors. She used to believe that being sensitive was a disgrace but has learned how to use this gift to the fullest by writing better characters and has recently learned how to set real goals and get them achieved! Learn how she finally completed her first draft in three months after years of working on it. You can find her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s.e.mckee/

In Goal Getter School, you will set a big goal for your writing career and learn a framework to manage your mind to achieve it. The goal of the program is to teach you to manage your mind so you can better realize your creative potential for the rest of your life. If you’re interested in learning more about Goal Getter School and maybe even applying for the January 2023 cohort, visit http://pagesandplatforms.com/goalgetter

transcript

SUE CAMPBELL: Hey writers, you are listening to the Pages & Platforms Podcast with me, Sue Campbell, a book marketing and mindset coach. I'm so happy to bring you a mini-season on goal setting. The new year is coming and I want you to be well-prepared to set goals in a new and hopefully more effective way. So I'm bringing you interviews with my students from Goal Getter School for Writers. Sarah McKee is our guest today. She's a writer, mother and wife who loves writing and being outdoors. She used to believe that being sensitive was a disgrace, but has learned how to use this gift to its fullest by writing better characters and has recently learned how to set goals and get them achieved. Let's hear the interview.

SUE: Hi, Sarah McKee. Welcome to the Pages & Platforms Podcast.

SARAH MCKEE: Hello, Sue. Thanks for having me.

SUE: Oh, it's such a pleasure. I'm so excited to talk to you today. So why don't you start out by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you write?

SARAH: Yes. Right now I am writing an action sci-fi story that I've been thinking about for over 10 years. Uh, that I've just been tweaking it and I've got two other manuscripts I've been thinking about but never really finished a draft.

SUE: Yeah, like many writers. Like many writers. So tell us why then you wanted to join Goal Getter School for Writers?

SARAH: Well, when I first saw the email, when I first saw the Zoom call about it, my first thought was, oh, I'm so embarrassed. I'm embarrassed to admit that I would need help with this. I'm an adult and I need help setting goals and following through. But then realizing that, well this lady Sue here, she knows that there's enough people that are having this problem that she made a whole class about it. And it's like, oh wow. And I kind of weighed the cost and it's like, it is a little pricey, but I'm investing in me and I need this. This is something that's gonna help me forever. It's not like, oh, take this class and then take it again in six months. It's take this class, learn from it, you know, rewire your brain. I think that was like a big, big pull for me to know like, okay, I'm in good hands. This lady gets it. You know.

SUE: I love that. I love your reframe of going from embarrassment to obviously if she's offering a class, I'm not the only one with this issue.

SARAH: Exactly, yes.

SUE: Yeah. I absolutely love that. So let's tell everybody what your goal was.

SARAH: My goal was to write a complete first draft of my action story.

SUE: And it was 65,000 words. Is that the...

SARAH: Yes, mm-hmm.

SUE: Okay. 65,000 words and we have about three weeks to a month left to go, somewhere in there. And how many words are you at right now?

SARAH: Over 58,000. So I'm so close. I'm in the last quarter of my draft and so excited. I'm so pumped to get that last burst done.

SUE: Yes. That is so amazing. So you went from working on this book on and off for 10 years and working on a first draft, and yesterday in our group call you were like, have I really only been three months away from a first draft this entire time?

SARAH: Yes, exactly.

SUE: Can you talk a little bit about that?

SARAH: Yeah. I always struggle with getting things done with just focusing. I always kind of get overwhelmed and I have these negative feelings and so I would always just distract myself. And one thing I distract myself with is video games. I love video games. I'm really good at it and I have this sense of accomplishment when I do it, but that doesn't really help me in the real world. So whenever I'd feel these negative feelings, I would just kind of want to escape. I would just wanna forget about it. And the times when I did sit myself down and open my draft, I'd just feel overwhelmed and all these bad feelings. So yeah, that kind of hung me up. I was stuck with these bad thoughts, these bad stories I told myself.

SUE: Yes. And so, so common. I just wanna normalize that for you and for anyone listening. So common that writers hit this kind of roadblock. So what have been the most helpful aspects of Goal Getter School for you? What's made the difference in the way that you're approaching goals this time?

SARAH: I think whenever I would feel these bad feelings, it was like, oh I gotta distract. I gotta run away. I don't wanna think about it. I don't wanna deal. But with Goal Getter School it was like, okay, let's just sit with this for a minute. Let's figure this out. Instead of ignoring it, instead of just trying to throw it away or bury the thought, let's ask yourself questions. What are you feeling? Where are you feeling it? One week we were talking about what is the story you're telling yourself? You know, is it really true? I was making my world so small because I was always giving away my power. I was giving away my agency to other people and to really focus on me. This is what I want. This is what I want my world to be, my life, you know? So I was able to kind of rewire my brain to retake control over what's really important to me. What do I want to accomplish? Where do I wanna be in a few months, in a year, in two years? To really think ahead.

SUE: Girl, I am tearing up over here, right? Like this is exactly the reason. You're such a perfect example of why I wanted to create this container because I know you can do it. This is not a potential, a capability issue at all. It is almost always a mindset issue where you have these default stories that are not serving you, that are playing in your head like a broken record. And when you get still and have some tools — all of the tools that I teach inside of Goal Getter School — when you have the tools to really slow down and look at what your default behavior and your default thoughts are accomplishing, it's a big wake-up call. And then it's not just like, oh I, I feel like shit because I've been doing this. That's not the point. The point is no, this is totally within your control and now you can shift it and learn these tools to empower yourself in a completely different direction than you did before. Seriously, I get emotional thinking about it because this is exactly the kind of impact that I'm committed to enabling. I didn't do it for you. I couldn't come to your house every morning and make you sit down and do the work. You did that because you had the tools and you've had the capability all along. I think that is just absolutely magical and I'm so happy for you.

SARAH: Oh, thank you, Sue. There was one week where I was figuring stuff out and I was like, Sue, I have a life coach question for you and you were able to help me work through it. And I was like, oh, this is really cool. And the first thing you said is it's awesome that I made that connection. I have a certain behavior thing that I was like, I've done this before, why do I do this? And you were just like, that's awesome that I thought about it. Let's think about it. Let's ask more questions. What feelings are around it? It was awesome. It was a great conversation. There was another week where I did not make my goal and you were very stern with me. You were like, hey listen, and that's exactly kinda what I needed at the moment. It was nice to have that contrast, that gentle push, that insight when I need it versus come on now, you can do this, I know you can, no excuses, let's go. That's what I needed that week. So it was like really cool to have that contrast.

SUE: Yes, and that is why everybody needs a coach. I have a coach, I'm coaching you. Everybody needs that other set of eyes to open up that awareness and go, okay, look what your brain's doing right now. Is that what you really want? We have to be on to ourselves and we really have to be committed to being willing to be uncomfortable. That's something you've done such a beautiful job with through this whole experience. And one of the things that I emphasize is look, everything that we say we want is on the other side of discomfort. So if we're not willing to sit in the discomfort and explore what is this feeling in my body that I'm wanting to get rid of with video games or with shopping or with Instagram or we all have our little things where we go for escape. We have to notice those patterns and then be willing to unpack them and be in the discomfort and actually move through them if we wanna accomplish those goals. And you've just done an absolute beautiful job of breaking old patterns and being onto yourself and noticing and being willing to work on it. And I just really, really commend you for that. It's been fantastic to watch.

SARAH: Yeah. Well, thank you, Sue. I appreciate all your help through this. This has been really fun, an adventure to go through this.

SUE: And for anyone listening it probably sounds like, oh my God, this sounds like a lot of big emotional work. It is and it isn't, because there's that supercharged feeling of oh my God, I'm honoring my word to myself, I'm doing it. Can you talk a little bit about how you felt in the day-to-day of sitting down and cranking out those words?

SARAH: It was so hard at first to sit there and do it cuz I was just like, I don't know what to do. I'm not sure how to do this scene. You just kind of slog through it, and then you get into a routine cuz we are creatures of habit. We do need to set that routine. It's a big part of it. I've heard that before with writers — it's like, set your word count for the week or the day. But with you Sue you're like, okay, where are you going to sit? What time of day? To really hone in, to make me focus. You can't just be kinda like, oh I'll put it off, put it off, put it off. That really helped to get me moving and then once I start getting momentum it's like, oh now I figured stuff out and it gets more exciting. Then you can think back, okay, next pass, next draft. I know what to do now. I know how to connect the dots.

SUE: Yes, absolutely. Oh my god, I love it so much. Is there anything that you have learned about goals in general or about yourself and the way that you relate to goals during the course of doing this work?

SARAH: Just the fact that it's okay to have these emotions. It's okay to feel these emotions so intently, the bad ones, the good ones. And instead of just trying to toss it away — trying to really work through it. Now I know how to talk myself through it and I have these tools of how to better trust in myself to keep moving forward. Instead of saying, oh I can't do it, I can look back and say, yes you can. You can absolutely do it. Sue taught you how to do this, you can do it.

SUE: Right? And that's one of the things in the program. It's like look, this is a three-month period where you're gonna face all of this shit that comes up when you try to keep your word to yourself and like commit to a goal and make the goal cuz there's gonna be stuff that comes up in this process. But if you learn how to work through it, these are skills you will have forever. The number of books you can write is expanded. The amount of marketing that you can do is expanded. Your entire world is actually expanded when you learn how to keep your word to yourself and work through any discomfort that happens in the process.

SARAH: There was one week too, you were talking about how there's a story we tell ourselves that kind of turns into a belief. Doesn't mean it's true, but it just kinda happens. So that was really an eye opener for me. It's like yeah, like I have these bad thoughts that I think are fact and they are not. Learning how to push through that and you know, keep moving.

SUE: I love it. I love it. It sounds like you've done a bit of brain rewiring in the last few weeks, Sarah.

SARAH: Yes. It finally clicked.

SUE: Fantastic. What are you gonna take forward in your next project? What are the biggest things that you've learned about yourself that you're gonna use in your next round — when you start revising, in your case?

SARAH: Just to take a moment for myself to think about where is this coming from instead of trying to run away.

SUE: Yeah. Who knew that the key to getting your writing done is self-care and mindset work.

SARAH: Right.

SUE: Right. I'm always doing it myself just because of my history and like what I love doing and what I love learning. And when I moved into book marketing work, I realized those two parts of my work had to come together because I can hand someone a checklist of what they need to do to build their author platform or finish their book or whatever it is. Because at Pages and Platforms, we're helping you get your book written and build an audience for it. We can tell you all the things, but if you just hand someone a checklist and don't give them any mindset skills to be able to do it, they're not gonna do it. Something is gonna get in the way. You're gonna talk yourself out of it. You're gonna self-sabotage. That's just the way human brains work until you know how to work with them. Any just parting thoughts or things that you want to share that you think can help anybody? Whether they join Goal Getter School or they just wanna work through it on their own? What is the most helpful thing that you took away?

SARAH: It's such a comfort to know that I'm not alone in this. You know, that there's other people that are struggling and it doesn't make me weak, it doesn't make me a failure. It just means I have to trust in myself, learn about myself more to move forward.

SUE: And you're doing it. You're doing the work. I'm super impressed and super thankful that you joined the beta group.

SARAH: Yeah, I am too. It was so much fun.

SUE: And you're gonna walk away with a completed manuscript. Yay! It's a done deal.

SARAH: So exciting.

SUE: Yeah. And I'm excited for you to come into the club and start working on that revision cuz you'll have Ann and Rochelle there for you at a moment's notice to help you through anything that you encounter.

SARAH: Yes, me too. Because it's also a redemption story and I want more tidbits on that and how to work that in.

SUE: Oh, I love a good redemption story. I can't wait. I can't wait to read it.

SARAH: And Sue, I'll be asking to come on your podcast again once I have my book published.

SUE: Deal. Good. Yeah. And in the club, you can also get started now that you know exactly what kind of story you're telling. You can start working on your marketing too.

SARAH: Awesome. It's exciting.

SUE: Thank you so much for coming on, Sarah, and sharing your experience. Really, really appreciate it. And I'm really, really impressed with all you've done in the last three months here.

SARAH: All right. Thank you, Sue. It's been a blast.

SUE: If you're interested in learning more about Goal Getter School for Writers, and maybe even applying for the January 2023 cohort, visit pages and platforms.com/goalgetter.