As part of my dedication to lifelong learning and because I am a writing class junkie I took 3 classes in September of 2011. All of them were excellent but one, Conceive, Believe, Achieve: Goal-Setting as a Proven Path From Abstract Wish To Concrete Plan was life changing for me. Developed and taught by Amy Atwell (www.amyatwell.com), the course ran for the month of September and included 10 lessons.
In the first lecture, Amy assured us we’d be “learning a systematic process that helps us identify goals and allows us to develop a plan for achieving them. In the intro, she also assured us the class would offer:
* Tools to help you translate dreams into goals
* A better understanding of SMART goals and how to use them
* A better understanding of action plans and how to use them to achieve goals
* A game plan for holding yourself accountable to your new goals and action plans
The class never let us down. Amy is a gifted online instructor who created a safe environment where her students were happy to share – sometimes very personal material. From beginning introductions through to our wishes as writers, she had great participation. Her replies were prompt and well thought out. Best of all, she didn’t lecture but rather shared the material and her ideas about our responses.
I’ve taught goal setting classes. After all, SMART goals have been around for a long time. But Amy has a slightly different approach. Starting with our ‘wishes’ she hooked our emotions and then used those to create an action plan that always circled back to our wishes and emotions. Putting emotions into a 5 Year Plan is a guaranteed way to ensure follow through.
By the end of the course, I had a 5 Year Plan and annual action plans (and goals) for the interim. And I had very clear goals for the balance of 2011 – along with the action plans to accomplish them.
The September class was offered by Low Country RWA Chapter. I’d keep an eye on Amy’s website to see where she’ll be teaching next year.
I can recommend this class without reservation. It’s got something for everyone who is trying to improve their productivity and needs a plan to achieve it.
So what’s your dream? Do you have a plan to achieve it? Have you started the process of reaching your goal? If not, why not?
Congrats on creating a five year plan! That’s fantastic. I’m going to look into Amy’s next class–thanks for the information. 🙂
Amy is a fabulous teacher and a wonderful person. Hope you can hook up with her.
Hi, Louise,
Thanks for recommending Amy’s class. It sounds tailor-made for me. Congrats to you for creating a five-year plan and action plans.
She teaches standard material in a wonderful way. check out her website http://www.amyatwell.com for her classes in the new year.
be well
Hey Louise! Fabulous post (I’m popping over from the WANA711 class). I’ve never heard of Amy, but will certainly be checking on her website for the next class.
I’m super good about setting goals, but then I allow too many things to get in the way and the goals seem to flutter away. When I finally get around to noticing I’m not working toward them, I have to set up new paradigms. It can get exhausting. This class just might be what I need.
Amy is working on a new venture as well right now – Author EMS. It will be live December 1. I visited the beta site and was most impressed with the author resources she’ll be offering.
I too struggle with the follow through which is why I found Amy’s class such a godsend. Be well
Amy’s goalsetting class sounds wonderful, Louise. I’m a terrible goalsetter — more of a fly by the seat of my pants type of person — so this class sounds like something I could really use. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on her class. It’s always great to hear what others think.
She’s a wonderful teacher – we’ve kept in touch and I still talk to her about goals, so it’s been a great investment for me.