goal setting

22 01, 2014

Resolutions Checkup – One Word Wednesday

By |2018-01-17T08:43:16-06:00January 22nd, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

We’re three weeks into the New Year. How are your resolutions working out?

Goal setting reminds me of eating at a cafeteria. All those choices and, as my grandmother would always say when I could barely lift my food tray–my eyes become bigger than my stomach.

That happens with setting goals. We’re so energetic and eager to start over after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that we overextend. We set our expectations too high.

If you’re like most of us, those good intentions for a new start to the year are slowing falling away. Why? I think it’s because we set vague or unattainable goals like these.

medium_New_Year_Comic_for_WritersSo if you’re feeling down because your resolutions aren’t happening, look at your goal. Have you set the standard too high?

Adjust and move on.

If you’re a writer, take to heart the advice in the poster. I bet you’ll discover your eyes aren’t bigger than goals.

6 01, 2014

Bye, bye 2013!

By |2014-01-06T06:00:03-06:00January 6th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

2013-20142013 is gone.

2014 is six days old.

A new year signals the time for goals, resolutions, and predictions.

I’m a goal setter. Last year I shared a blog about how I set my yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily SMART goals. You can check out my method specifics here.

This year I’ve read several great blogs with ideas for how to be successful in 2014.

After reading Joe Bunting’s If You Want to Have a Great 2014, Spend an Hour Doing This, I knew the topic for my first blog of 2014.

AARs (After Action Review)  are already a major component of my goal-setting method so following Bunting’s advice works well for me. Click here if you aren’t sure what an AAR is.

So without further ado, here is my 2013 in review (with AARs):

Writing: My second novel, Love in the Morning Calm released in November. For a list of all my books on Amazon, click here.

AAR for novel writing: It’s taking too long to get the stories out there! I need to write faster.

I wrote 143 blog posts, which drew 6,400 views and 96 followers. According to WordPress, my blog visitors came from 113 countries.

AAR for blog writing: Thank you, blog readers for stopping by now and then.

Travel: My husband and I traveled to Ireland with a tour. The idea was to research my book set in Ireland that will coming out this year. Traveling with twenty-six other delightful people does not leave much time for writing research.

AAR on overseas travel tours: Guess we’ll have to plan another trip.

Not exactly travel, but major locales change. We sold our Houston, Texas, home of thirty-three years and moved to our summer home in Colorado.

AAR on our move: Loving it!

Around the house: Life has been crazy since our move with projects! We remodeled our little cabin and added a garage, which is still not complete.

AAR on home improvement projects: Patience, patience, patience.

Life in General: We survived the June 2013wildfire in the Rio Grande National Forest. We are so thankful. So many lost homes and lives in Colorado wildfires last year.

My dear sweet aunt, a shining light in my life, went to heaven to join her husband, her parents, and her sister. Her passing brought home the reality of mortality and established me as the oldest living relative on my maternal side. Now that’s a sobering thought!

AAR on life: Cherish every moment!

Whether you choose to end the old year by setting goals or making resolutions or reviewing your accomplishments, I wish you a 2014 filled with success and happiness.

Thanks for starting your New Year with me.

YOUR TURN: So how was your 2013?

To celebrate 2014, I’m offering a free copy of Love in the Morning copy to one lucky commenter.

14 01, 2013

Failure to plan is planning to fail — a PLAN for success

By |2013-01-14T07:37:54-06:00January 14th, 2013|Monday Motivations, Uncategorized|4 Comments

No one wants to fail on purpose, but failure to plan can lead to failure. Today we’ll look at the process of goal setting for SUCCESS that I use.

cropped success

My plan comes from Bob Mayer’s WHO DARES WIN, The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear and Succeed, which is available here.

There are three components:

• Focus
• Strategic goals
• Tactical goals

Experience has taught me when you know where you’ve been and where you’re going, you go farther than when you just drift along.

Creation of a concrete list, imo, is critical.

But no goal setting process is complete without a review of the previous year’s STRATEGIC GOALS. Every time I do this, I never fail to discover I have accomplished far more than I thought. I’m betting you would see the same results.

Not only do I set measurable goals for myself, I also reward myself for my accomplishments!

After my review, I determine a FOCUS for the New Year.

A target.

4455527_thumbnail

In 2012, my focus was epubbing. btw, I accomplished my goal  as you can see on the left  side bar: The Pendant’s Promise, my debut novel, is available to purchase.

 FOCUS is whatever will move you toward achieving your object for the year. Your yearly FOCUS can be studying a particular craft area, networking, or reading x number of books and analyzing the author’s technique.

After FOCUS come STRATEGIC TARGETS.

I give serious thought to these questions in setting my targets for a New Year.

1. What do I want to write this year?
2. What do I want to sell this year?
3. What will I do toward getting my name out there?
4. What writing craft do I need to focus on?
5. What’s on my reading list?

Once I have answered these questions, I set the targets broken into three month, six month, and one year objectives that culminate in two year and three year goals.

These are SMART goals:
S -Specific (and Strategic)
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Relevant (results oriented)
T – Time-framed

For example, a specific, strategic goal might be stated like this:
At the end of the first quarter 2013, I will have two short stories submitted to such and such periodical.

Then I establish a list of METHODS to accomplish my strategic goals. My last year’s list looked like this:

1. Write 100 NEW words per day
2. Spend minimum of 20 hours per week writing
3. Attend two writer conferences

No wishy-washy, weasel-worded methods like I’ll write every day. Too easy to let life interfere and be lax with methods like that.

My methods are:

Specific.   Measurable.   Attainable.

Same with my TACTICAL WEEKLY GOALS which might include:

1. Write three query letters
2. Complete critique partner’s edits
3. Outline two scenes for WIP

Either I accomplish what I’ve set out to do or I don’t. I know where I’m going and whether I’m there at the end of the week.

And, yes I do write out these goals every week and record my progress.

To quote, Pablo Picasso: “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.

I also happen to be blessed with an accountability group to provide additional focus and encouragement toward accomplishing what I’ve set out to do. We share weekly then alternately cheer or bring out the cyber whip based on our goal reports.

I hear you groaning. You’re saying all this takes too much time.

I don’t deny this process takes time, but having a SMART goal plan provides not only focus, but also helps solidify intangibles into something tangible.

I can’t guarantee SUCCESS with my plan. I do promise goal-setting will direct you on the right path because to hit a target you must aim.

Goals set your aim.

I  encourage you to think about a writing plan for the New Year.

YOUR TURN: Have I convinced you? Will you set SMART goals for this year?

7 01, 2013

To Resolve or Not to Resolve That is the Question

By |2023-01-07T20:34:12-06:00January 7th, 2013|Monday Motivations, Uncategorized, writer|5 Comments

Last week social media was all a buzz about New Year’s resolutions. Facebook status comments offered summaries of people’s 2012 and their goals for 2013. Blogs gave statistics from last year and offered predictions for the New Year.

How about you? Are you making resolutions?

New Year's Resolutions, list of items

I don’t do well with general resolutions like those pictured.

BUT I am a goal-setter. Goals help solidify intangibles into something tangible.

Consider this quote from Mario Andretti, “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

As a former teacher, goals (aka objectives) were an integral part of my world. I watched lesson plan objectives produce learning success for students. So transferring goal setting to my writing career was a logical, easy progression.

For me, goal setting provides the target, and I can analyze why I missed the bull’s eye and adjust as I move toward success.

Knowledge is power. When I know what works, I can do more of it. When I know what doesn’t work, I can do less of it.

Goals work for me.

If you’re not one to set goals or make New Year’s Resolutions, you’ll love Juliet Marillier’s New Year’s blog post where she shared nine gifts for a writer’s focus in 2013.

  1. The wind in your hair, the rain on your skin, the sun on your back, the richness of freshly turned soil underfoot. (If you live in a city apartment, plant up some pots with flowers or veggies. Go for regular walks in the park, and use your five senses to experience nature. If you have a garden, make compost. Get your hands dirty!)
  2. The joy of providing a forever home for a shelter animal. (Not all of you will be able to do this, but it’s a great way to nourish the soul. If you can’t take on a homeless animal, you could volunteer to walk shelter dogs, or help out at a refuge.)
  3. Social interaction and I don’t mean online! (Writers can easily get into the pattern of spending long hours alone, maintaining their social contacts mostly online. This is not great for your physical or mental health. Make an effort – go out to coffee with a friend once a week, join a book club, walk your dog at the park, meet like-minded people in the flesh.)
  4. Writing because you love it; loving what you write. (Because otherwise what’s the point?)
  5. Stretching yourself creatively. (Try a new genre; set yourself      challenges in voice, point of view, vocabulary, structure)
  6. Making a virtue of ‘down time.’ (Try meditation, walking, Tai Chi, swimming, playing with your children or animals)
  7. Learning that the best motivation for getting on with things – your work in progress, your diet/exercise plan – does not come from the note on the fridge, but from deep within you. Changing your mindset; doing the right things not because you ought to, but because you want to.
  8. Being generous with your time, even if you don’t have much of it to spare. (Read to an elderly person; help out at your kids’ school; fill hampers for the needy.)
  9. Breathing. (Step away from your screen regularly. Go outside, look at something beautiful and breathe slowly for a few minutes. You live in the real world; it is the source of your inspiration. Honour and respect it with all its flaws.)

I love her ideas for enriching our creativity. Wonderful words of wisdom. You can read the whole blog here.

But I still believe in goal setting.

As a writer, I see this New Year as a blank book. Remember my New Year’s Eve post? If not, read it here.

We can fill the pages of 2013 any way we want. A goal plan isn’t required, but it might help us succeed.

Next Monday, I’ll share my goal-setting process.

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