Happy New Goals
By Jo Eberhardt | January 6, 2018 |
Photo by Flickr user Carol VanHook
It’s that time of year again. The airwaves are full of ads for weight-loss programs; gyms are offering discounted annual memberships; and self-help books are flying off the shelves.
Me? I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never really understood the desire to spend the last night of the year making solemn promises–drink in hand–to get fit, or stop eating cheese, or to commit to whatever life-changing idea occurred to me during the last couple of weeks of the year.
I am, however, a fan of goal setting. I like to create a list of goals that I intend to achieve during the year, in various areas of my life.
When it comes to writing, I like to make SMART goals. That is, goals that are:
- SPECIFIC: “I’ll write ten short stories” rather than “I’ll write some short stories.”
- MEASURABLE: “I’ll write five days a week” rather than “I’ll write as often as I can.”
- ACHIEVABLE: “I’ll submit two stories a month” rather than “I’ll submit three hundred short stories this year.”
- RELEVANT: “I’ll write 5,000 words per month” rather than “I’ll run three marathons.”
- TIME-BASED: “I’ll finish the draft of my novel by the 30th of June” rather than “I’ll try to finish my novel.”
Goodbye 2017
Here we are in the first week of 2018 – the perfect time to look back at the SMART goals I set this time last year and reflect on my successes.
Now, to be clear, I had a great 2017. My life was busy, and I achieved the most important of my non-writing goals – which is to say that my children and I survived our first full year of homeschooling intact and without killing each other in our sleep. I had a number of wins in my social life, family life, and (paid) work like. And, in terms of writing, I went on a week-long retreat to the Gold Coast with a couple of amazing writers and wrote 40K words of a new manuscript in five days.
And yet…
When I look back at the writing goals I set for myself last January, I didn’t achieve a single one of them. (Even the 40,000 new words were off-target; I was supposed to be finishing my revisions.) My life went in a different direction to the one I’d anticipated, and I didn’t adjust my goals accordingly throughout the year.
Hello 2018
So as I sit here pondering my goals for this year, I’m filled, not with excitement, but with trepidation.
I didn’t achieve anything last year (according to my set goals). What makes me think this year will be any different?
Writing, as I like to say, is a mental game. If I go into the new year feeling worried about what I can possibly achieve this year, I’m already behind the 8-ball.
So, this year, I’m not setting year-long SMART goals about stories written or submitted. I’m not setting yearly goals about word count or revision. Instead, I’ve decided that 2018 is the year of being kind to myself.
It’s the year of encouraging myself to do as much as I can, rather than badgering myself for not doing as much as I think I should.
It’s the year of being truly SMART with my writing goals.
If there’s one thing I learned from 2017, it’s that twelve months is an incredibly long time, and a lot can change between January and December. Instead of setting myself writing goals for the whole year, I’m going to set myself a single writing goal on the first of each month.
Huh. Whaddaya know? The year is looking brighter already.
Do you set yourself writing goals each year? How did you fare in 2017? What goals have you set for 2018?
[coffee]
Jo Eberhardt is a writer of speculative fiction, mother to two adorable boys, and lover of words and stories. She lives in rural Queensland, Australia, and spends her non-writing time worrying that the neighbor’s cows will one day succeed in sneaking into her yard and eating everything in her veggie garden.
This is an inspiring article. My friend and I started a two person writing group in October. We assign ourselves something for the next meeting. Last meeting was goals!
She wrote a few, I wrote none. I wasn’t sure what to set. I will set a few, but your article made me feel better about not setting grand goals. And to be fair, the goals my friend set weren’t so grand – but attainable.
Thanks for the wonderful words of wisdom!
Love updating the goals each month. Brilliant idea! My goal is to finish the revisions of my book. After reading your column, I am thinking to try half of the book in January and half in Feb.
Thanks again1
I didn’t set yearly goals either, except for finishing a WIP I’ve been working on and off for a few years. I set a few goals every three months I find it work better for me.
Homeschooling takes energy and time – but possibly a lot less of either (depending on the children and whether they’ve been in a school before) than having kids in school. I’ve tried both ways, and prefered having the kids under my direct supervision since I was home anyway due to illness.
My goal is simple: keep on writing, every day. Publish when I finish things up to my standards. Possibly, learn to market (efforts so far haven’t yielded desired results of fame and fortune).
Haven’t veered from those goals in years.
Oh, and be kind to self. The world is unkind enough for both of us; it doesn’t need any help from me.
Enjoy! Especially the kids.
I think this is an excellent idea.
I’ve often felt that it’s asking for problems to set goals for the year, and I can’t imagine 5 year goals as are often talked about. Life can easily change and what seemed so possible is suddenly totally impossible.
Going with monthly goals sounds more reasonable! :-) I hope you do well with your writing and your homeschooling.
Great article. Living with long and short term goals is inevitable for me.
Happy New Year, Jo!
My only writing goal for 2017 was to not quit–to keep creating and keep learning.
Without having anything specific in mind, I think I accomplished quite a lot: I took Story Genius and a couple other online writing classes, finished two short stories (not great stories, but complete stories), attended my first writer’s conference where I signed up for a critique session (getting feedback from adults, with writing experience, not just my grandchildren–some was good, some was embarrassing, but my critique partners were kind and supportive, even though I was too nervous to be of much help to them), started a new story a few weeks ago. and have a growing list of story ideas. So, I think I can say my 2017 goal was achieved.
I like your idea of encouraging ourselves…and the idea of being kind to ourselves. Although I wasn’t think of it in quite those terms, I think that’s pretty much what I had in mind when I decided to not make resolutions or set goals last year. If there’s one thing I’ve learned the past few years, it’s how easy it is to let writing become a burden; to feel overwhelmed, instead of engrossed by the stories and the process of creating them. So, I’m sticking to the same plan this year.
Here’s wishing us both a productive AND stress-free 2018 (at least when it comes to writing!).
My goal is to write at least 2 notebook pages of my latest story idea every day. That way I always have something to work on when I’m stuck waiting somewhere, and I have completed story arcs awaiting my attention for when my WIP is finally published or shelved. I don’t always get the 2 pages done but it has helped me finish the dirty drafts of four more books and hence take the pressure off my first one – even if it never sees the light of day at least I know I have other books in me.
Good luck with your monthly goal setting, that sounds like an actionable plan!
I’m with you, Jo. My goal is to be kind to myself and not stress over not meeting my goals, or beat myself up when I miss my mark. Life happens and sometimes gets in the way of my best plans. A little perspective is needed. So I went easy on myself last fall when I got hung up on the fact I didn’t finish my WIP novella that I started last New Years because I was hospitalized three times and my 90-year old mother broke her hip. Maybe that’s just an excuse, but my mind simply wasn’t in my work and that’s okay. There’s always tomorrow. Wishing all of you a wonderful, productive 2018!
Being kind to yourself sounds like a truly “smart” goal. And a wise one too. I have read a newspaper article, claiming that goal setting indicates too much of a win-loose situation: if you do not live up to your goals, you are a failure. The authors suggest setting a theme for the year instead, like “creativity” or “family” or even more specific things. The idea is to try and take decisions throughout the year according to your theme, to gently steer yourself into the right direction. – Happy New Year!