Given my Q1 plan has been massively derailed by the unexpected difficulty of recovering from a minor surgery. Technically I’m failing, not succeeding.

But what to do about it?.

I’ve lost four of the twelve weeks (so far), and there are still six to go.

In the normal scheme of a three month project I’d say it’s half over and I have to do something. Get extra resources in to complete on time, reduce the scope or quality.

But, this isn’t a regular project with a defined outcome at the end of it.

I was trying out a collection of ideas; some with one big task each week and others with a simple daily task.

While I’m not doing some of what I planned, I’m getting a bunch of other stuff done. Stuff I was thinking I’d get to later, like my filing. Or publishing the individual stories from The Histories of Hayward Hall collection.

So it’s not wasted time.

The weirdest thing about this situation is I’ve always been very focused on sticking to the plan. Getting it done regardless.

But now I’m a writer, I can “fail to success,” as Dean Wesley Smith often says.

As long as I do something, I will always have done something – like last year’s collection challenge – thirty stories in six collections.

On top of the 52 stories in 52 weeks the year before that

So even if I don’t get to everything on my list, I will have succeeded. By failing.

And Q2 is an unwritten story.

You can find more planning, related information, and my monthly on the Life Worth Living page.