You did it! You thought about it and you decided on a brand spanking new goal for 2017. It’s perfect, it’s specific, it’s attainable and it’s something you’ve been wanting to do for a really long time. You are super excited to get started but you have a nagging question. “Uhmm. Now what?”
Everyone has goals that they want to accomplish but for every writer, baker and architect there is someone who hasn’t been able to put those dreams into play. Everyone knows one person who has been writing their master piece science fiction novel, for the past ten years. It is great to have goals and dreams more importantly it is important to have a plan how you want to go about achieving that goal.
Some may be scared of the word planning, thinking they need to have flipcharts, pivot tables, multiple graphs for graphs sake. A plan of how to achieve your goals does not need to be have every single detail, wrinkle and minute planned out. In fact, that would probably be so counterproductive that you would never get any actual work done on your goal.
The first step on planning to accomplish your goal has already been done. You know what you want to do now think about how you are going to get there. If I want to run a 5k this year I might look at some websites that specialize in Couch to 5K programs. If I want to write a new novel (yes you can do that outside of November!) I want to have an idea of what it is about. You want to gather information because the key to achieving your goals is to break them down into small chunks. The Couch to 5K programs have weekly markers for you to track progress. Writers keep track of word counts or set aside time just for character or plot development. The reason it is so important to have these fun sized goals is so that you can have a feeling of accomplishment as you work towards your goal. My last manuscript came in over 400 pages (I am working on splitting it into two books) imagine trying to sit down at write all of that in one go? It would be impossible. I did it one day at a time, writing and writing and writing some more.
It is important too to understand that you should set these fun sized goals at intervals that make sense. I write at about 20 words a minute (I pause a lot to tug on an earlobe or pull on my lip. I can’t help it, that’s how I get my little noodle to think). I can’t set a goal to 10,000 words a day and expect to hit it . During NaNoWriMo my personal best daily total is a solid 4000 words, the result of a hard core writing weekend. In general I aim to write 2000 words on a new project each day. It’s something that is doable.
Something that brings me closer to the finish line. Something that makes me say “Oh yeah!” and do a little happy dance when I hit it. Set goals that you can hit, goals that you can feel good about doing and that bring you closer to what you want to do. You can’t just get up and run a 5K just because you bought a pair of running shoes. You need to practice. You need to prepare. You need to work on achieving your goals one day, one week at a time.
I will be honest, I do have a hard time hitting that 2000 word mark sometimes. I am a bit ambitious when I am in the troughs of writing. I learned a long time ago that the daily word count does not matter nearly as much as sitting down each day and just getting to work. If I miss a target, then I must get over it and get back to work. Life is not always kind to the dreamer, it will always throw things in our way that distract or emergencies that take away our time or capacity to chase down our goals. We need to be read to be flexible and forgiving of ourselves. We have to keep our eyes on the finish line and not allow our immediate circumstances to dissuade us. The road to your dreams is paved with a thousand little steps. Now go get them.