The Daring Author with Jenna Little

Why I’m Ditching Goals For Desire-Led Creativity

• The Daring Press

Share episode

You don’t need another list of goals to feel legitimate as a writer. You need a stronger bond with yourself. In this conversation, I share why I’m letting desire, not deadlines, lead my creative life and how that shift changes the way I write, market and choose who I work with. Instead of chasing the trendy funnel or the “proven” playbook, I walk through the felt process of noticing what lights you up and letting that energy set the pace for your work.

We dig into the difference between goals and desires—goals feel rigid and external, desires feel like vision in motion and how to build a simple ritual to close the year with intention. Month by month, we look back on 2025 to celebrate the good, honour the hard and, most importantly, shed what no longer fits: people pleasing, hustle for the sake of it, and the heavy shoulds that flatten your spark. I share practical ways to translate desire into action, like protecting slow mornings, writing when the characters are loud, and choosing collaborators who feel like magic.

Rejection gets a full reframe here. A no is not a verdict on your worth; it’s neutral data about timing, taste and context. When you cut the cord between reviews and identity, you free up momentum to write the next true page and find the readers who will love your voice. We close by rebuilding self-trust through tiny kept promises that prove you can lead yourself into 2026 with clarity and calm. If you’re ready to trade pressure for presence and let your energy lead, hit play, subscribe, and share this with a writer who needs permission to choose what lights them up.

Book your complimentary discovery call here!
Discover what social media platform is right for you here!
Download 50 content ideas for authors here!
Website: https://thedaringpress.com/

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back to another chapter of the Daring Author podcast. Now, today, as I'm in the lull of like in between between Christmas and New Year's, it is, I believe, the 29th today. And something that I wanted to talk about as we move into the new year. It's not going to be about new year goals. And I want to really talk to why I'm not really setting goals for 2026 in the normal way that I would have done last year and the year before that and all of that. And we get into the new year energy and setting big goals and all of that for 2026, and this is the way that I've been living most of 2025. 2025 for me has really been a year of seeing myself. And you probably, if you've been a longtime listener of the podcast, you would have noticed a bit of a shift and a bit of a change in the in me, in the way that I talk, in the way that I'm delivering these episodes. It isn't in its normal consistent way. It's not scripted, it's it's honestly just been energy flow. Whenever I feel inspiration, I'm on the microphone, I'm talking, I'm exploring it, I'm sharing. I have been living this year, has been like the year of really shedding, meeting myself, meeting my edges, meeting edges of myself that I've come up against. Things that have challenged me, things that have come up when I'm feeling pushed to the edge. And being curious around, okay, well, why am I feeling this way? And getting just asking the questions, being curious, why am I feeling this way? What has caused this? What triggered this? And really reconnecting with myself, seeing myself before the world sees me. That has been like a pivotal moment this year when I sat in front of the mirror, I looked at myself, and it felt like I saw myself for the first time in my life, and I saw myself. I see you, I love you, and that connection. And let me tell you, that has changed everything in the way that I move, in the way that I talk, in the way that I live, my experiences, everything. It has changed everything. I am no longer waiting for permission. I'm no longer waiting for people to see me. I see me. I'm not waiting to get the tick of approval or following things that just don't light me up anymore. Even if it's the number one strategy to get clients in 2026 or to sell books in this particular way, this is the way in 2026, this is the this is the funnel that you should follow, and blah blah blah. I am no longer willing to go down paths that just don't line me up, that don't light me up, that don't feel good to me. I am so in tuned now to myself, into what I believe, into what moves me, because I know and I'm connected to myself when something feels good, and I'm like, ooh, I actually really like this strategy. I want to move with that. I really like this way, but this thing is moving through me, and I'm gonna follow that. I'm I'm just so connected to myself, and that is what I'm bringing into 2026 is being energy-led. I'm not led by goals, I'm led by my energy, and simply every day waking up with what do I want? What do I want? What do I want to experience today? And letting that just come through. The answer might not be there straight away, but letting it come through, letting it guide me, letting it, letting it guide my day into okay, I might want to have a slow morning. Or I might want to jump straight into my manuscript because the characters are there, they're talking to me, they're they're wanting their voices to be heard, they're wanting wanting me to write. What do I want? Not letting the world tell me what I want or what I should do. Being energy-led is going to change everything in the way that I move in 2026. I'm not setting goals. I've got desires, and the difference between desires and goals, goals just feel very structured for me, whereas desires, they're the visions. And as writers, you'll know what I mean. When you vision something, when you can see it, that's a desire. You can see that that is what I want to live by. Is the desires, is the vision, is the things that really excite me and moving with that. And that I'm just not settling for anything else anymore. Life is too short to be doing things that just I have to do this because I should do this and because it's meant to be. I'm just no longer too willing to accept that. And I'm moving in a way that is energy-led, where my whole body lights up, that feels good, that I'm working with people that just make me feel good. They're in the same energy, they're in the zone, they're in this fantasy world that just feels like magic. I'm hanging around people that just make me feel good, light me up. And the people that don't, I'm just not no longer willing to sit there and be in that. And something that I was listening to this morning was around rejection. And I want to speak a little bit on this experiencing rejection and not through judgment. If somebody says no, or if somebody doesn't like your book, or if somebody has something bad to say about it, or review, or anything like that, it means nothing. It doesn't mean anything to do with you. And I know that when we write our books, we have so much energy that we put into them. We have so much of ourselves, and sometimes it can feel like it's a friend saying that they don't like us or something like that. But the different way to think about that now is not through judgment. Experiencing rejection that you really see no as the next opportunity. We find our truth in rejection. No, not everyone is going to love your work, and that's okay. That is the most beautiful thing because you you know you love your work. The way that you've expressed yourself, the way that you've moved through it, and you're not sitting there waiting for the reviews, reading the reviews, making it mean something about you because it doesn't. It does not mean anything about you. It is about the person that in that moment in their lifetime, whatever it is that they're experiencing while they're reading it in that time in their life. It is to do with them, and you cannot change that. You have no, you cannot change that. So we've got to cut the cord. It doesn't mean anything about you. And knowing that every rejection, every no, there is a yes somewhere else. And releasing that judgment, it does not mean anything, anything about you at all. And I really wanted to share that because that was something that really just was like knowing that, remembering that, and taking that into 2026, that's gonna change everything in the way that you move, in the way that you write, in the way that you market, in the way that you move. I'll say it again, move. It's gonna change everything because you're not you're not stuck in the rejection, you're not sitting there sobbing, making it mean something because it doesn't. It doesn't. And I really want you to hear that. I really want you to take that into 2026 and dream like this is the perfect time to really look at 2025. What are the lessons? What are you letting go of in 2025? What do you want to shed? What do you want to let go of? Write a list, and I know mine's like I am letting go of people pleasing, I'm letting go of hustle, letting go of structure, and letting go of shoulds, fully shedding. And this is a perfect time before we get into the desires, before we get into the dreaming, before we get into because that's the fun bit as a writer. We can vision and dream and desire all day long, but really looking at 2025 and going back, what are you letting go of? And even looking back and celebrating and looking at what have we done this year, what have I felt? Even the hard times, even the good times, like going back in time, like a video, going back, re-watching, re-looking at each month, what happened, what did you experience, feeling into that? How did it make you feel the good, the bad, the whatever it comes through? And looking at that first, and then looking at what am I letting go of, making a list, looking at that before we get into desire. It's important to look back at all of this and reflect and release and let go of what you're no longer bringing in the heart tiny too. Building unshakable trust within yourself. There's always gonna be you, the power in you, who you are. There is no one else like you. I am me. And you don't have to know what's gonna happen next. We can desire, we can have our dreams and all of that, and that's great. But I really want to encourage you to when we get into 2026, lead with your energy, lead with who you are, what feels good in your body. Say yes to the things that light you up, say no to the things that don't, let them go in 2025, write them out, light that shit on fire, let it go, let it go, let it go, and then you'll be ready to step into 2026 with this just unshakable bond with yourself because you are led. You lead yourself, and everyone follows, everyone connects, you lead, the universe follows.