Target Practice . . . Aka . . . Goal Setting

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. ~Author Unknown
Goals are good. Goals are good. Goals are good.
Even if you’ve barely dipped your toes into the world of novel writing or any other worthy pursuit, you’ve heard this mantra. Probably more than once and no less than a million times.
This is NOT going to be one of those sickly-happy, “Goals are awesome!” posts. In fact, if you are looking to hear about my excellent achievement in goaling or seeking inspiration for your goal setting, this is the wrong blog. This is just some things I’ve noticed about goals.

1. Having goals is great! Or more exactly, not having goals is awful. It’s like trying to eat soup without silverware. Doable, but it sure is messy. Weird how there seems to be a direct correlation between, setting goals and getting stuff accomplished.

2. Goals seem to work better if they are written down. Someone once said, “A goal not written is only a wish.” I say, “A goal not written is forgotten until three weeks after it was said to have been accomplished.”

3.Goals written down and lost do you no good. Last semester, my doggone planner ran off and I was completely lost. My. Life. Was. Over. I didn’t get a thing accomplished.

4. Finding a perfect sized goal is much like trying to find a perfect fitting pair of jeans. Some too big, some too small. Example: write a full novel in a day. What? Or in contrast write one word this week. The . . . Yes! I did it! In 50,000 days, I’ll have a novel! Oh wait . . .

5.Erring on the side of a too big goal is always better. Think the jeans analogy. Big goals make you stretch (though bigger jeans don’t--though they do make it so you can stretch). Anyhow, even if you don’t reach your goals, you have stretched further than you would have if you had not tried. It’s like the National Novel Writing Month--50,000 words in a month. That’s an amazingly high goal. If you only reach halfway, that is 25,000 words. How many of those words would you have written if you weren’t reaching for 50,000? Exactly.

6. If you tell someone your goals, you are under obligation to remember them and complete them. Accountability--that’s just how it rolls.

New life goals for me:
1. Keep better tabs on my planner.
2. Daily goals.
3. Finish editing Rising by May.
Great, now I have to. :D
Until next time, happy writing!