Lately, I’ve had a lot of reminders of my second grade elementary school class (or primary school for the British) where they told me to always remember the KISS rule – “Keep It Simple Stupid.” A life lesson in such a perfect simplistic phrase and at the age of 8.

Somehow, I can relate everything in my life back to that age. Had my mother known the pressure she was under to give me one good year that I based my entire life on, she might have been more worried. As it turned out, those life lessons have stayed with me for the best or the worst of it.

I have two more weeks until my half marathon, and as I was running the simple seven miles (funny how now it doesn’t seem that far to run when just two months ago I would have guffawed, choked on my own saliva and legs turned to jelly), Jock and I began discussing future goals. I am afraid that after 26 weeks of training, once the half marathon is over, all my strength and new found toned legs will yes, turn back to jelly.

Well, Jock has another rule that he probably learned at a bit older of an age, and is a little more profound perhaps – he calls it, keep it SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Tangible (or Time Based).

For fun, along the run, we applied our rules to everything in our life. And, these rules are so great that you can do just that.

For instance, at first I decided to run another half marathon in March in order to keep my new athleticism. He thought that was too soon for me. What I realized after more discussion that in fact, I really just wanted to reach my goal weight, and keep strong.

You see, I tend to be pretty single minded. So, when my goal to run a half marathon is my focus – that’s all I focus on. And, when we think back, yes, that was ultimately a goal, but all in the grand scheme of things to lose weight and keep in shape. However, in order to have enough energy to run this half marathon, I need to eat a lot of carbs. Carbs is something my body does not process well, but that my hips relish. So, even though I love my strength, I don’t love my hips and butt looking swollen.

After the half marathon, I will continue to have one long run a week, two short runs, but now I will also start including a day of yoga and weight training all with keeping a balanced diet so that by March of 2010, I will reach my goal weight.

At first, I was like, MARCH!! That’s so far away. That’s not keeping it simple stupid – that’s postponing the inevitable! Jock explained that I could probably make it to my goal weight by December, but then there’s Christmas and New Year, yadda yadda. God, sometimes I hate it when he’s right. Attainable and Tangible – yes, yes.

Another thing to apply the rules to – my book.

I have to admit that I put my goal to finish my first draft as the 2nd of October, and it now being the 7th of October…well, that’s past the date, now isn’t it?! And do I feel a little embarrassed by the fact that I didn’t achieve my goal? Yes, a bit.

For my rule, I wasn’t keeping it simple. I have been distracted by researching blog sights, how to get read, how to get published, what agents want in a book. Blah, blah, blah. Basically driving me to want to hit my head on the dining room table over and over, and stab myself in the chest all at the same time. Putting so much pressure on myself to get this book finished and published, that I lost some of the reason why I actually started writing it in the first place. Just to have a book written. So, keep it simple by remembering what I set out to do.

What if I don’t actually care if it gets published?

What if I just want to finish the damn thing and make it the best thing I’ve ever written? What if that is my only goal. Jock and I don’t need the money, I don’t need the recognition. Hell, finishing it would be an achievement in and of itself.

Once I finish it, will I want to get it published? Yes, probably. But, focus first. KISS.

And, SMART. I was being a little over eager about the due date. Am I the only person who knew the due date? Pretty much. That doesn’t help me though.

So, what’s an attainable goal? Christmas. I have 71,000 words and should be able to get the other 20,000 finished within the month, but why give myself that pressure? Christmas is a good present for myself. Specifically, I can break it down into how many pages per week, etc.

But watch out, because around that time I may be asking for a lot of you to read my book and give me the most honest feedback you could give someone.

So, each week, I plan to start the week remembering this mnemonic and acronym (big words!) and writing down my goals.

I love getting back to basics. Ahhh, simplicity. That makes me happy.

Oh, and the run was over before we knew it. Chatted the whole way, and voila! Seven miles done in the blink of a KISS.