What Happened To Those January Writing Goals?

I took a couple days off last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. I said I'd post again on Monday. However, I forgot that we are off on a four-day trip early Monday morning, so I'm posting Sunday evening and will do so again on Friday. After that, things should be back to normal.

By now, you're very much aware that it is December, the 12th month of the year. Do you remember last January when we talked about setting your writing goals for the year? I suggested that you keep your list fairly short. Setting too many goals or ones that are unrealistic can be overwhelming when you look back through the year to see what you have achieved.

I also suggested that you keep your list somewhere visible to you on a daily basis. Even if you did that, I doubt any of us would be reading that list every day. So, it's quite easy to lose track. 

When we achieve only a bare minimum, or even none, of those goals we set, it can be rather depressing. We all mean to do what we can to make each goal a reality. Then, life gets in the way. Writing is probably not the only thing in your life. You may have family responsibilities, some of us more than others. You might belong to one or two or more organizations that take up a lot of your time. The house needs cleaning, trips come up that are too good to pass up. Should you shirk your duties in these other parts of your life to give your all to achieving those goals? I think not. Finding a balance is key.

If you have your list, or even if you have it mentally, go over it. Check the goals that you did meet. Pat yourself on the back for a few seconds. Then look at the ones that are glaring at you, the ones you never got around to doing. If five are too many, pick two for 2020. Select the ones that are most important to you. Is it finishing a writing project? Or submitting your work every month of the year? Or stepping out of your comfort zone and trying to write in a new genre? 

If you're the rare person who lists goals and then meets them all by the end of the year, I salute you and hope you'll give us all a hint in the Comments below as to how you have accomplished that. 

There is no shame in not meeting all the goals you set eleven months ago. The important thing is to keep working to make each goal a done deal. Give thought to that great adage--Don't look back. That's not where you're going.

You have almost a full month left in 2019. It's a busy one with Christmas and Hanukkah looming, but maybe you can work on one of those goals that you haven't gotten to yet this year. Pick an easy one. 

What doesn't get checked off in 2019 can be the start of your goals for 2020. I have one goal that I have not worked hard enough on for the past too many years. I am determined to work toward it this next year. How about you?

List your Goals But Keep It Short!

I threw away our old calendars and put a new one near the phone and another on the wall here in my office this morning. The picture on the wall calendar is of a farm on a snowy day. Kind of looks like what I see outside my window. Not the farm but the snow. We had about 4 inches yesterday. The snowplow has not found our street yet nor have the newspapers arrived. Kind of nice that it's a holiday and people can stay in if they don't want to fight the snowy roads and crisp temps. Maybe I should say 'frigid' temps. 

At the beginning of a new year, we tend to reflect on the old one before we look forward. I've tried to look back without regrets rising. Whatever I did or didn't do the previous year is over, finished, kaput. There's no changing whatever happened in your writing life or your personal life either. Sure, there are things I wish I'd done differently, but I can't slide back to June or October or whenever it was. So, I prefer not to dwell on them. It's more fun to look at the positives so concentrate on those.

As for the ones you wish you'd done differently--they are the perfect base for your To-Do List for 2013 or for setting your goals for this new year. Spend today thinking about what you'd like to accomplish this year. Make a list, print it and keep it nearby so you see if every day. Making a list of goals and then hiding it in a file or a drawer does little good. We need that daily reminder. It's as good as an old-fashioned kick in the rear end. 

As for your goal list--make it short. List too many things and it looks overwhelming. You start wondering how in the world you'll ever accomplish all those items.