Octavia Butler Manifesto

Octavia Butler wrote science fiction at a time when Black women were not writers, let alone science fiction writers. She wrote bestsellers — Parable of the Sower and Kindred, both of which I'd highly recommend. (Bookshop links here because who wants to support Amazon?)

Something Octavia Butler wrote that doesn't make the bestseller list is something I refer to often — in my own life and with my clients. It’s not her books, but the inspiring messages she wrote to herself. 

Some of these are among the pages of her personal journals (bless her for not destroying those before her death). Some of these are scrawled on the backs of notebooks. Some are short and others more comprehensive. The ones that stick out to me are those that clearly lay out her life goals, particularly around writing and income. 

The most remarkable thing about these seemingly casual notes is that every single thing in them came true.

We've all heard the story about Jim Carrey writing himself a million-dollar check and keeping it in his wallet — until the day a studio actually wrote him one. We hear about athletes who envision the game-winning shot, the perfect goal, the gold-medal lap. But there's something that puts Octavia Butler's manifesto in a league of its own. 

It's deeply personal and vulnerable. It covers so many aspects of life. It speaks to writing as her passion and writing as her livelihood. It connects her to a bigger why — her family, her community, the support she will provide to those less fortunate. It addresses her as a whole human. And it does so openly. I often wonder if she had known that these would be published one day, would she have been so honest?

I've written a couple manifestos of my own. A la Octavia Butler. And I've assigned this practice to clients for a number of reasons.

We set goals and articulate our ambitions not to shame ourselves for not meeting them yet. It's not to feel overwhelmed by everything we want to accomplish. And it's not to brag. It's to set the goalpost so we know where it is — because otherwise, human nature takes over and we just move it, and move it, and move it. Ensuring we'll never actually reach it.

Plans change. Goals change. Life is not predictable. But that doesn't mean we can't set the goalpost firmly in the ground and move in the direction of our desires.

Here are some snippets from my manifesto, written earlier this year. 

I will be a multiple time New York Times bestselling author.

I regularly publish books and have a loyal agent and publisher.

My books help women befriend their brains, tame the chaos, and believe in themselves.

I regularly speak to young people encouraging them to be everything they are meant to be.

People who read / listen to my words feel permission to be themselves and change the world.

I provide opportunities for young people of fewer means to pursue their dreams.

What's in yours?