I spent much of this year doing the memoir of a billionaire-with-a-b. I\u2019m under a strict NDA about who it is, but I can tell you something that won\u2019t come as much of a surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The client was legitimately self-made. Grew up working-class, and had a good idea at the right time which changed the course of his life. He had lots of help along the way, but was honestly responsible for much of his own success\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026and (here\u2019s the part that\u2019s not surprising) he\u2019s really big on goals<\/i>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project got me thinking a lot about goals, too. This start-of-the-year article is the result of some of that thinking, aimed away from big business and toward the kind of micropreneur every successful author has to be \u2014 and which every aspiring professional author needs to become.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s talk about goals, in the context of New Year\u2019s resolutions. A lot of us make them. Some of us keep them. Most of us should do things that make them work better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll define them, discuss a framework for setting yours for the coming year, and end with some top tips for making them as successful as possible in the coming twelve months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to be a little harsh here, but a lot of people use the word \u201cgoal\u201d incorrectly. Here is a list of goals that are not, in fact, goals:\u00a0<\/p>\n
These are good things to want, but they\u2019re just hopes and dreams. A goal is a hope or dream that you define clearly. Here\u2019s those same statements, this time written as goals:<\/p>\n
See the difference? One is a nebulous idea that doesn\u2019t provide much in the way of a forward path. The other sets specific, measurable criteria you can use to plan your efforts \u2014 and to help you know when you\u2019re done!<\/p>\n
One popular system for setting goals is called SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Specific. In this context:<\/p>\n
These factors can make goals very powerful. Let\u2019s look at two examples and see if they\u2019re smart goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to grow my fan newsletter\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Two failures. Two successes. Half a point for being specific-ish. That\u2019s 50 percent SMART, which gets an F on any grading scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want my fan newsletter to grow by 1,200 subscribers in the coming year, without reducing its open percentage statistics\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Five successes (or four and a half if we\u00a0ding the \u201cprobably\u201d attainable part). That\u2019s either 90 or 100 percent SMART, which is an A in most schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n You get the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n The goals above are good for describing what you want to accomplish, but fall a little short when it comes to how you\u2019ll accomplish them. For that, we\u2019ll use our resolutions.<\/p>\n Borrowing from fitness, if your goal is \u201cLose 24 pounds this year\u201d, you might set a resolution about how many times you\u2019ll go to the gym.\u00a0<\/p>\n You could also call these smaller goals. Some folks call them benchmarks. Since it\u2019s the holiday season, we\u2019re calling them resolutions here \u2014 but it\u2019s the same concept.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s a solid process for setting resolutions based on long-term goals that help you accomplish the things you want to accomplish. It\u2019s simple \u2014 though I don\u2019t promise acting on it will always be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n It starts with your long-term outcome. Some people set those for five to ten years in the future, but for our purposes we\u2019ll go for one year. Set that outcome in a way that engages your emotions:<\/p>\n You get the idea. Make it something you know how to do, that\u2019s possible for you to accomplish, and that matters to you in a vivid way. For purposes of this example, we\u2019ll use the first one: I will finish the first draft of my manuscript<\/b>.<\/p>\n The next step is to turn that into a SMART goal, as described above. I will finish the first draft of my manuscript by December 31 of the coming year<\/b>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s your goal. Divide it by 50 to come up with a weekly benchmark. If you figure your first draft will be 50,000 words long, then your resolution is I will write 1,000 words on my manuscript\u2019s first draft each week in the coming year.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n And that\u2019s your resolution: 1,000 words a week, rain or shine. Or you could divide by 12 and call it 4,200 words per month. You get the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n If this is your first go-round with intentional goal setting, aim for just one. Choose the thing that would make the biggest difference in your writing career, and go for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you\u2019re more experienced, consider chasing two or three \u2014 or choosing one each for your writing, your health, and your family.\u00a0<\/p>\n You can also consider setting a three- or five-year long-term plan, and making the first year\u2019s step the goal for your resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is some debate in the goal-setting community about how aggressive we should make our goals. One camp says we should make them aggressive but manageable, so we believe in them enough to do the work to make them come true.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other camp says we should set, as the man says, \u201cbig, hairy, audacious goals\u201d. The theory is that if you set a wildly impossible goal, the strides you make toward it \u2014 even though you\u2019ll fail \u2014 will take you a long way.\u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a right or wrong answer in general, but I\u2019m certain there\u2019s a right or wrong answer for each of us. If you\u2019re new to setting goals, I\u2019d recommend aiming for aggressive but manageable goals. Until you\u2019ve attained some difficult goals, it can be hard to believe they\u2019re possible to achieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n One problem with resolutions is we set them when we\u2019re excited, which means we set them too high and ultimately fail.<\/p>\n Think back to the example I gave of writing 1,000 words a week. For many writers, that\u2019s a trivial accomplishment \u2014 just 200 words each weekday. You might be tempted to double, or triple that. But here\u2019s the thing.<\/p>\n Life gets in the way. You\u2019ll get sick. Or your job will need extra effort for a while. Your car will break down. You\u2019ll get a cool opportunity you need to chase. And you\u2019ll run out of enthusiasm long before you finish your goal. Set a short-term resolution low enough to accomplish it even during difficult times and runs of bad luck.<\/p>\n By contrast, so many of us have experienced the problem with overly aggressive short-term goals that we\u2019ve never experienced the power of small but consistent work. That tiny 1,000 words a week still adds up to 50,000 words in a year \u2014 even taking two weeks off!<\/p>\n Believe in the power of long term, incremental accomplishment. Set an audacious goal for the year, built from building blocks that seem almost lazy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t phrase your resolution by days or years. Phrase it by weeks or months.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you phrase it by days, there\u2019s no room for trouble. \u201cI will write every day\u201d fails the first time you\u2019re sick, or the day blows up. If you phrase it by the year, there\u2019s too much room for procrastination. You\u2019ll end up in trouble by September.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you say I\u2019ll write 1,000 words a week, you can skip Monday for work and run the kids around on Thursday, and still have five days to get those words written \u2014 and even if you have to do it all in one day, that\u2019s not impossible. If you say 4,200 words a month, the same applies. It\u2019s a little harder to make up if you skip three weeks, but it\u2019s doable.<\/p>\n We already established why a SMART goal is measurable. Build that measurement into your weekly resolutions to keep yourself on track for long-term success. But that\u2019s only the first half.<\/p>\n The second half is to assess your results. If, after six weeks, you find you\u2019ve only gotten 500 words a week written, it\u2019s time to consider what changes you need. That might be changes to other commitments, to your environment, or even to the goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with shifting your target if you realize you\u2019re not going to hit what you first aimed at.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this case, your \u201cmap\u201d is the steps and actions you need to get from where you are, to where you want to be. In the simplest cases (like writing 50,000 words in a year), it\u2019s simply a numbers game. For other things, you might have different steps for each quarter of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Build your map, and check to make sure it leads where you want to go, before you set your actual resolutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n By this I mean, set your goals without regard for where you are and what you have accomplished already. Your past performance does not constrain your future potential. Set goals towards where you want to be, not based on just where you\u2019ve gotten so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do pay attention to your major stumbling blocks. The biggest things that have held you back in the past will still be there in the coming year. Have a plan for dealing with them, starting with the goal you set and continuing through methods for overcoming those specific obstacles.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least once a month, reward yourself for keeping your resolution. Tie it to some small, inexpensive (in money and time) way you like to treat yourself. Psychologists aren\u2019t certain why, but it feels disproportionately good to have those moments more than once a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a weird thing about setting goals. Your brain releases the same emotional chemicals for telling people you\u2019ve set a goal<\/i> that it does when you actually accomplish the goal. That\u2019s why broadcasting your goal (for example on social media) is counterproductive.\u00a0<\/p>\n That said, do share your resolution with one (okay, maybe as many as two or three) accountability partners who can help keep you motivated and on track when your motivation flags. For best results, your partner should also be working on a challenging resolution so you can help each other grow as a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n This one is simple to understand, but sometimes hard to practice. Only compare your progress to your goal, never to the progress others are making on similar paths.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comparing yourself to others never helps in other situations. It won\u2019t help here. Only compare yourself to who you were and where you were yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is what the R in SMART goals refers to, but it\u2019s so important that it deserves its own entry. When you set your resolution, make sure that it serves the most important aspects about growing your career as a writer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Likewise, when you sit down to make progress on your resolution, spend that time working directly on your resolution. If you\u2019ve said you\u2019ll write 1,000 words a week, cleaning your desk, checking your social media, re-reading last week\u2019s entry, and checking your newsletter stats, then you are not working on your resolution<\/i>. Stay on task and stay on target.\u00a0<\/p>\n When I coach authors and business owners, sometimes they push back about formally setting goals. (Okay, it\u2019s mostly the authors). They do it for various reasons \u2014 the most common being \u201csomething something it smothers my creativity\u201d or \u201csome eloquent way of saying they\u2019re afraid they\u2019ll fail to meet the goals\u201d.<\/p>\n For the first, if you truly believe that there\u2019s not much more to do. Go your own way and I sincerely wish you the best of luck with it. If you\u2019re on the fence, I can tell you from experience that setting goals actually frees my creative juices and helps them flow, not the opposite.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re afraid to set a goal because you might fail to reach it, I have this to respectfully submit. The results for setting a goal and failing are identical to the results of not setting a goal. Only through setting the goal, and the plan to reach it, then giving it real effort, can you make the kind of changes that will get you from where you are to where you want to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
\n
Resolutions vs. Goals<\/h3>\n
Setting Resolutions From the End to the Beginning<\/h2>\n
\n
What Goals Should I Set?<\/h3>\n
Stand on the Ground or Shoot for the Moon?<\/h3>\n
Top Ten Resolution-Setting Tips<\/h2>\n
1. Set Short-Term Goals Low<\/h3>\n
2. Set Long-Term Goals High<\/h3>\n
3. Subdivide by Months or Weeks<\/h3>\n
\u00a04. Measure and Recalibrate<\/h3>\n
5. Make and Check Your Map<\/h3>\n
6. Ignore the Past\u2026Mostly<\/h3>\n
7. Build in Celebrations<\/h3>\n
8. Tell Only One Person<\/h3>\n
9. Only Look at Your Own Numbers<\/h3>\n
10. Don\u2019t Mistake Motion for Progress<\/h3>\n
One Last Little Thought<\/h1>\n