Sine I talked about the role goals play in motivation on Monday, I thought I would give some advice on setting goals today.  At the very least, you can hear what works for me.  First though, I have to say, that goals aren’t and end-all to the motivation issue. I don’t always meet my daily goal, sometimes I fall short of my monthly goal, and I’ve had one ‘biggie’ in my yearly goal for three years that I haven’t made. What they do accomplish is the keep my eyes firmly focused on what I want to accomplish and keeping me on a steady pace toward that destination.

Three Key Elements

• reachable but challenging
• written down
• made accountable

Reachable: When I set my goals, I try to find that perfect line of what I can achieve but what still challenges me. If I wanted to feel good about myself I could set my goals low and make them everyday, but it’s not all about ‘feeling good.’ I’m working toward a big goal here.  That one that has gone unmet for three years now–getting a novel published–but my daily, weekly, and monthly goals need to be moving me ever closer to that.  On the other hand, I could challenge myself with huge daily goals, but if they are always out of my reach eventually not making goal will become a negative, overpowering experience.  So, as I break down in to my smaller goals (Daily/monthly/weekly) I look at what I can feasibly handle and ask is that still moving me forward.  If I’m making my daily three to four days out of seven, I know I’m on track for the bigger ones and I’m okay with that.

Written Down: I’ve read several books on self-motivation that say how important it is to write down what you want to achieve. Sort of like a shopping list of our wants and desires, the act of writing things down firmly implants them in our brain.  Somehow it becomes more tangible and real if it’s written down. On the yearly and monthly level I write them in a notebook.  Every December/January, I think about what I want to accomplish.  As I’ve said that ‘getting published’ is the big one.  I write it out, then begin to break it down. In recent years they way to achieve that ‘big goal’ has been to edit a  first draft, submit it to agents/publishers, and write one to two  new manuscripts. So those are the other three ‘yearly goals.’  On the next page of the note book I start breaking the year down into months and the rest is simple math.  How much writing do I have to do five days a week to write two 85k novels.  How much editing do I have to do five days a week to get through an 85k novel in four to six weeks.  That’s where I stop this exercise.

Every month I try to look at where I am on the path to that big goal and I adjust my approach.  I focus on my big goals, again rely on a little math, and figure out what has to be accomplished in the month to stay on track, again writing them down.  The only goals that don’t get written in a notebook are the weekly and daily ones. Though I’ve been thinking about using an appointment book as a ‘goal record’ and keeping track of them on paper too.

Accountability: This is the point where I count my blessings.  Through RWA and MVRWA I’ve made some wonderful writing friends who keep me motivated and on track.  At my monthly chapter meetings we set goals, say them out loud, write them down, etc and the next month report back.  When missing goal we offer encouragement and support and there is always praise for making goal.  Online, on the daily basis, I have my wonderful tweeps at #amwriting and #writegoal who give me the opportunity to set my goal and then be accountable for it later in the day.   That act of having to report back is fundamental in helping me achieve goals.

If you are thinking about trying to set goals, I hope my ideas will help. If you already set goals, do you have a formula that is differnt than mine? Here’s hoping the mini-goals will help me finally achieve that ‘big one’ this year.