Goal Setting 101

Goal setting is a powerful process that allows you to formulate a plan for achieving everything you want out of your life and your career.

Following the 11 steps outlined below will enable you to focus your energy, and avoid wasting valuable time and resources in areas that are not in alignment with your life and career goals.

1. Be specific about what you want.

The more specific you are about what you want to achieve, the more likely it is that you will achieve it. By knowing exactly what you want the outcome to be, it is also much  easier it is to stay on track and not get distracted.

Example: A general goal would be: “I want to write a book.” A specific goal would be: “I am going to write 5 pages a day and have an initial draft ready by August 15, 2011.”

2. Make sure the goal that you set is measurable.

Another easy way to stay motivated and on track is to make sure that you have measurable criteria built in, such as target dates, amounts, and action steps. Measurable criteria is anything that can be checked off that can give you an idea of your progress. In the previous example, writing 5 pages a day would be a measurable criteria.

3. Make sure your goal is realistic and attainable.

Your goals should be doable and should also be something that you truly believe that you can achieve. Examine your goals carefully and make sure that you have the qualifications, resources, and skills to accomplish them. If not, then you may need to set a more attainable, lesser goal that can set you up to attain the bigger goal.

4. Your goal should excite you.

Whatever excites and thrills you also inspires and motivates you. When you begin with goals that are fueled by your passion, you are already half-way there.

5. Make your goal timely.

Setting a definitive time frame for the completion of your goals makes them seem more real to you, and helps keep you on track. Knowing there is a deadline creates an increased sense of urgency to take action, that might not be there otherwise.

6. Write it down.

Writing your goals down keeps helps to cement them in your mind and provides visual confirmation of your commitment to obtaining your dreams.

7. Break it down.

If your goal seems daunting or too big to handle right off the bat, then break it down into several smaller, more manageable goals.

8. Take actionable steps.

For each individual goal, make a list (ie: an action plan) of the steps that you need to take to begin moving forward, then begin taking whatever action is indicated.

9. Be open to change.

After you begin taking action towards your goal, you may experience unexpected things and snags. Don’t get discouraged, simply stop and reevaluate your action plan and make any necessary changes so that you can continue moving forward.

10. Reward your success.

Set up some type of benefit system and reward yourself for successfully reaching certain milestones along the way to your goals. Rewards help to acknowledge your hard work and provide additional incentive to keep on track.

How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers

As I was reviewing some other author's blog posts last week, I came across an excellent post by Ali Luke of Aliventures. Ali is a writer and writing coach.

The post, "How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers" described me to a tee. I am that person who has a drawer full of unfinished manuscripts with more ideas coming each and every day, and the person who has had multiple blogs around the internet that have just sort of fizzled out. I have always been a starter and not much of a finisher when it comes to writing.

So imagine how offended I was (at first) when I read Ali's step #1 which states: Stop starting new projects!! My first reaction was one of immediate resistance, "But, I am a creative person. Having all these new ideas makes me feel alive!"

As I kept reading, I realized that Ali wasn't telling me to quit having ideas, just to stop trying to act on each and every one of them! Hello!! How easy is that! Just stop trying to enact them all! It almost made too much sense.

Her suggestion is to create an idea file where ideas can be jotted down to be revisited at a later time after you complete current writing projects.

I was simply amazed at how this first step hit home for me. I have always believed that if I had an idea, that I needed to jump on it and get started it with it immediately. As a result, I always ended up going Mach 10 with my hair on fire trying to juggle everything I wanted to get accomplished. This led to a quick burnout, and caused many of those great ideas to be left dangling incomplete for weeks, or months, or even years.

It never once occurred to me in all my years to just stop beginning new projects! Which leads to Ali's second step: Assess Your Current Projects.

In this step Ali encourages us to organize all of our current incomplete projects. For me this meant really taking some time to sit down and review each and every unfinished project and evaluate it for plausability. Is this project or idea something that is still relevant? Can I envision where I want the project to end up, and can I complete it? Maybe, the project is one that is no longer consistent with the direction that I want my writing to go.

Ali suggests to divide up your writing projects into three categories:

• Active Projects - these have a definite purpose and still excite and inspire you
• Dead Projects - these are no longer consistent with the direction you want to go and can be let go
• Dormant Projects -these still hold promise and you want to complete them in the near future

It is very hard to let go of ideas that seemed so promising when they first came to me, but I am only one person, so I realized that I just had to let some of my writing projects go that weren't in accord with my current writing mission and purpose. Once I decided to do this, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

For me the hardest part of this process is the third step: Choose One Project To Focus On. I have spent so much of my life having way too many irons in the fire, that it was hard to imagine focusing the majority of my time and energy on just one writing project. On the other hand though, this step makes so much sense, that I was embarrassed that it had never dawned on me before. After all, the easiest way to finish something is to just keep working at it consistently until you are done, allowing few distractions to get in the way.

So it was at this point in the process that I made an agreement with myself to dedicate myself to completing the paranormal romance manuscript that I have been intermittently working on over the last 6 months or so. With the exception of maintaining my two blogs, I am not going to write on anything else until my first manuscript is finished.

Finished. Just thinking about finally having an end product to show to the world makes me feel almost giddy inside! But, how exactly will I know when it is finished? That brings us to Ali's fourth step: Decide What Finished Will Look Like. 

At first glance this step may seem sort of silly, but think about it. If you're a perfectionist like me, finished is a lot harder to categorize. If I am going to put my name on something and send it out into the world, I want it to be the very best creation that I can make. The drawback to this line of thinking is that nothing is ever perfect, and by trying to get something perfect, I could drag the manuscript on and on indefinitely.

So I came up with two guidelines that will help me determine when my manuscript is "finished."

First, I will not edit any of the manuscript until the final chapter is complete.

Second, I will only allow myself two rewrites at maximum before I send it off to an agent or publisher.

Once I have completed those steps, then it is time to move on to the next writing project and only revisit the manuscript after a request by an editor for revisions.

Lastly, Ali suggests to Set Some Milestones (And Begin Hitting Them)! Setting small goals along the way is a great way to keep yourself motivated and to be able to track your progress. I think for my current manuscript, I will set goals of one chapter at a time.

I would just like to thank Ali for a great article. Reading it really has changed my perspective on my writing and hopefully by following her 5 steps, I will finish that first manuscript in no time!!