This week’s challenge isn’t a creative one per se, although it could be. This week, I’d like you to “go-public” with a goal. You could post a goal on your blog. Post it as a comment on mine. Or tell a really supportive friend about your plans – a friend that will hold your feet to the fire and keep you motivated in the 11th hour IF you feel like caving.

Your goal can be an organizing goal. For example, your goal could be to organize your garage and basement by August 22nd (or earlier if you’d like.) Or you could organize “the room” — that place where things pile up until “later” only later still hasn’t reared its pretty little head. Or your goal could be a creative one … to complete a scrapbook that you’re oh-so close to completing but just haven’t quite finished. Or to scrapbook for 6 hours a week. Your goal could be to complete one of the prior “weekly challenges” from this blog by August 22nd (or earlier.) Your goal could be to cook healthy, home-cooked meals five times a week, or to exercise three times a week. It’s up to you. All you have to do is decide on a goal, make sure it’s measurable (three times a week, four hours a day, eight pages a month, etc.) and dated (by August 22nd, every week now until August 22nd, etc.)

I hope you’ll take this challenge because, you see, this really works. And I’ll tell you how I know.

In January I read this on Stacy Julian’s blog.

So I decided to take Stacy’s challenge since I’ve always wanted to run a race. But wanting something and committing to do it in front of others (many others in this case) are two different things. After posting on Stacy’s blog, I then told my husband, my kids, my sister, and my friends about my plans. The more people I told, the more committed I became. When I didn’t feel like running to train … I did … because I had gone public. When I didn’t feel like finding a race to run … I did … because I had gone public. And when I got tired midstream in the race, I didn’t stop, because I had gone public that I would run in a 5K race. To me that meant running it start to finish without stopping.

And so I did it. Last Saturday morning I ran in my first ever 5K race. It is possibly one of two times I’ve run that distance without stopping … which is all too exciting. And I have to tell you, accomplishing a goal that is hard for you is a truly rewarding thing to do. As I was doing it I thought “wow, I’m achieving a goal at this very minute. How cool is this?” As I started to get tired, I just kept running … knowing I was so close I couldn’t stop now and knowing that at the end, my kids were there cheering me on, my hubby was there cheering me on, my friend Laura was there cheering me on, and Stacy, in spirit, was there cheering me on.

So now I’d love to be your cheerleader. I want to see you accomplish your big goal. Start by going public with your goal. Go public in whatever way you’re comfortable. If you’d like to post here … that’d be great. I’m here to help and cheer you on at the finish line. If you’re more comfortable telling a close friend, tell your close friend. Just pick a way that feels right to you and know this: if I can run a 5K race, you can accomplish your big goal, too. Good luck!!

One more thing … I turned the track-back feature on. Let’s see if we can figure this out together, OK? See comments in the post below for a link to a great explanation on track-backs.

Two more things … I’ll be posting one of my goals in the comments section soon. So check back if you’re curious about what I’ll be up to next.