#1 Revisit Your Annual Goals (and get specific)
Did you set some goals in January?\ I’m not talking about “New Year’s Resolutions”. I’m not a fan of those.\ I am a fan of goals. Of making the determination that I want to move from where I am right now to a different place than where I am right now. And I would like to do it by this date.
Did you set one of those goals way back in January?
It’s time to revisit those goals.\ Where were you?\ Where are you now?\ Has there been any movement?\ Why?\ Why Not?
There are now 119 days left in 2019. You have goals yet to be accomplished. Here are some very specific actions to take between now and December 31st to create inertia.
Write them down.
Take the goal you set (or at least thought you set) in January and write it down someplace prominent. A sticky note on your desk or a digital sticky on your desktop will do. Write it down.
It is a fact that written goals are much more likely to be achieved than unwritten ones. Google it. I recommend good old fashioned ink and paper. There is something permanent about tactile. It’s too easy to delete things on a digital medium. Hard drive crashed with all of your goals and hopes and dreams.
Don’t write down SMART goals.
It’s too confusing I can never remember what the acronym stands for. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. I just had to look that up to remember, and I work with clients and goal setting all the time.) There’s an easier way:
My goal is to move from X to Y by (Date).
My goal is to move from 10,000 words to 50,000 words by January 1, 2020.\ My goal is to move from eating chocolate ice cream every night to having healthy snacks in the evenings by December 31, 2019.
Do you see the pattern? In reality, this meets the standards of SMART goals without complication.
For each goal, make a strategy
This is where most of us miss it. We make goals and stop. There needs to be a strategy. For each of your written goals, I recommend making a three-step strategy you will implement to make it happen.
My goal is to move from 10,000 words to 50,000 words in my manuscript by January 1, 2020.
I’ll be in bed by 10:00 PM so I can get up by 6:00 AM
One extra hour of uninterrupted writing time in the morning (Phone off. In the other room).
500 words per day every weekday between now and the end year — boom. Goal accomplished.
Revisit your 2019 goals.\ Write them down.\ Set a three-point strategy.\ Execute.
