The Goals And Dreams Project
On Wednesday, December 31st, 2025, I walked into Crimson Cup Coffee at 11:00 am. After ordering my coffee, I opened my computer with the intention of editing. The manager, Lydia, who I went to high school with, walked up to me and we started to catch up. I first introduced you, the audience, to Lydia in the season 6 installment A Writer's Place, in which I revealed that I had finished writing The Greattastic Adventures 2: Fractured and Greattastic Adventures 3. I wrote basically the entirety of Greattastic Adventures 3 at Crimson Cup. “How's the last book coming?” Lydia asked.
“Good!” I replied, “I'm actually doing the last little bit of editing that I need to right now, and then after that, it's just about getting the cover done. Hoping to get it published before Paige and I get married!”
Finally, we stayed up till midnight and rang in the new year together, for the first time in our entire relationship! As 2025 rolled into 2026, and Paige and I said good night, I opened the 2025 Goals and Dreams doc on my phone. The Goals and Dreams Project is something that I started after I had a brunch with my friend, Madison, Pop-pop, and Sara, on New Year's Day 2025, and I realized that in terms of reaching my goals, I was plateauing (Self Advocacy). As I explained in the installment, The Goals And Dreams Project (Beta), the document was inspired by my teaching mentor, Mr. Livingston, during my Walkabout at TGS. While I haven't actually discussed the document since I introduced it in that installment, it has helped me.
Originally, Mr. Livingston had had me just make one document and list a handful of goals and dreams on it that I wanted to achieve in my senior year of high school (specifically during Walkabout). This year, I expanded on that idea by making the 2025 Goals and Dreams Doc and then the Major Goals and Dreams Doc that runs from 2025-2030. I also had a color coding system. Black means still needs to be done, green means completed, and red means moved to the following year's Goals and Dreams doc. Though, as I looked at it, I realized I needed to add blue for things that are in progress.
I started this installment at Crimson Cup with Lydia for a reason. Originally, I was going to make this season finale about me publishing Greattastic Adventures 3. I already have the idea for what that installment is going to look like because, despite it not being a finale anymore, nothing about that installment is really going to change. The real-life delays in publishing are the only reason that I am not a four-time published author going into 2026. And I'm not worried about it.
My goal last season was for me to start a nonprofit. Obviously, me not being able to achieve that goal within that season attributed to the aforementioned plateauing. As I made the 2026 Goals and Dreams Doc, I smiled. While this series has made me a lot more goal oriented, the downside of that is if I don’t meet the main goal that a season is built around I tend to spiral. The fact that I have not spiraled despite not publishing Greattastic Adventures 3 yet, proves to me that the goals and dreams project is a success.
Have a Greattastic day and be safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri, SBT
Speaking of things not happening when I thought they were going to, on the 4th of July, Ryan told Noah and I that Cousin Simple’s newest EP, You Don’t Have To Sing Along, would slowly drop throughout the rest of 2025. I took that as set in stone. As of the posting of this installment, January 12, 2026, all six songs have been out since Friday morning. You can listen to it wherever you find your music.
Rules for a Greattastic Life will return with Greattastic Life Special Edition: For Papa
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