5 Steps from Dreams to Completed Goals

Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, we posted 5 Things That Made Us Smile that week. This week’s topic is “Share tips on how you successfully set and completed goals.”

I had a very specific set of writing goals in mind for last year and this year, with the RWA National convention in Anaheim for 2012. I’ve felt like I wasn’t getting any farther on my own and I needed some extra guidance and cheerleaders along the way. So that’s what 2011 was all about. Moving forward with taking baby steps so I didn’t freak myself out.

A few of my 2011 goals were intended to up my writing game (not in terms of craft, but in networking and path to publication):

1. Complete my manuscript (BHT for those following along).
2. Join Romance Writers of America (nat’l, RWASD, & Beau Monde chapter)
3. Submit my manuscript to at least ONE agent.
4. Apply for RWA PRO status.

1. Separate Dreams From Goals.

Dreams are good. They’re the moon and the stars. The most important thing to remember is that they have to be YOUR dreams and goals. If you’re doing them for someone else or they don’t exactly line up with your values, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Take the time to think about who you are, what you want, and why you want it. Don’t rush figuring those things out.

Dream: I want to be published author and see my book on the shelf.
Goal: This year, I want to complete the first draft of a 90k Regency Set Historical Romance novel that’s suitable for Avon Books.

Dream: I want to take amazing photographs on purpose.
Goal: This year, I will publicly do a 366 (It’s leap year!) Photo Challenge with a couple of friends to improve composition and learn to use my camera without relying on the AUTO setting.

Dream: We want a comfortable retirement.
Goal: We need to accumulate X amount of money by a certain date in order to get a return on the principle that’s equal to our current income.

With the dreams, there are many paths I could take to get there, most of them involving a whole lotta luck.  The goasl, if they’re good ones, are going to be much more precise and can be broken down into tasks. A dream is what you want, but a goal is what you need to do to move toward your dreams.

2. WRITE S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Have someone who knows you and what you’re trying to accomplish go over them and sanity check them. Skimping on this step just sets you up for failure. You can rationalize anything if you aren’t crystal clear about what you want to accomplish and you’ll find all sorts of loopholes, especially if you don’t write them down. Another thing that writing them down and putting them through this checklist can do is find and resolve conflicting goals. I don’t have exact dates for these goals above, but on my master copy, they had precise dates of which they were to be accomplished. I don’t think I went over by more than a week on any of them.

Are the goals [S]pecific? How are you going to accomplish it, if you don’t know exactly what you want to do?
Are they [M]easurable? How are you going to know if you’ve done enough to complete it?
Are they [A]ttainable? How are you going to achieve this goal? What steps do you need to take?
Are they [R]ealistic? This is where having a partner in crime or accountability helps most. We often bite off more than we can chew and they’ll call us on it.
Are they [T]imely and/or time limited? Do you need to do it now? How long do you have to do it for? Do you have a deadline? Even a self-imposed one is better than leaving it open ended. Make sure you know of any other steps that must be completed first.

3. Group Similar Goals.

Make sure you have all the steps necessary and the order in which they need to be done to achieve what you want.

I knew I wanted to be in the PRO groups for RWA in 2012. This means on the PRO mailing loops, attending the PRO breakfasts for my local chapter before meetings, and going to the PRO Retreat in Anaheim. I couldn’t just do those goals in any old order. Ok, the first two I could, but 1 definitely had to come before 3 and 2 before 4. A nice neat little stack of dominoes, if you will. They just tend to fall in slow motion.

You should also be thinking in terms of SHORT TERM GOALS and LONG TERM GOALS. You may also have some medium range goals in there as well. It’s often helpful to pick a date 5 or 10 years in the future and dream big, but true. Then, start dividing that time frame up… What do you have to accomplish to reach the that big goal in half that time? In a quarter of that time? In the next two years? In the next year? In six months from now?

4. Keep Moving Forward.

Keep your goals list handy. Check it frequently. When you’ve completed one task/goal on your list, move on to the next one. Celebrate your victory, but don’t lose your forward momentum. Love that motto from Meet the Robinsons.

One thing with keeping tasks/goals in a logical order for completion is that you don’t have to backtrack. Even if you aren’t planning to accomplish the next step in the current month, quarter, year, 5 years or decade, you should still know what you’re going to need to do to get where you want to be. You need to be prepare if your world suddenly shifts beneath you and you’re left without a plan? Or worse, you have a plan, but it’s irrelevant. By having a forward-looking plan that stretches out farther than you think is necessary, you give yourself something to work towards and you just might find you have to readjust. Likewise, the ground can shift and suddenly you’re back to square one with certain goals. Pick yourself up, dust off the plan and get moving. You’ve already decided you want to be somewhere better. Every journey begins with that first step. Take it.

5. But, Don’t Look Down!

Why do we set goals for ourselves anyway? We want to grow, to improve, to enjoy life more. If you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll still be among the stars. Trite, but usually true. One way to set your goals up for positive change and increase your chances of success is to frame them in positive terms. “Losing weight” always seems to fail… why? It’s not will power, genetics or even that extra slice of cake. Ok, it probably IS the cake, but that’s a different argument. The problem is that it’s a NEGATIVE goal. Look at the wording… LOSE that’s not a positive word. If you want to lose weight you need to think of it terms of what you’ll be gaining and then find the steps to accomplish that.

If you are trying to set goals that push beyond your comfort zone, you need to sneak up on them. Make progress at a rate you’re comfortable with. If I can push myself to do something once, the next time is easier because it lacks the apprehension and built up fear the next time. This is why I made a goals of submitting to at least ONE agent. I gave myself permission to set the bar VERY low and not build expectations into the goal.

One of the PRO Liasons in my local chapter said to me today: “Just like, when you’re climbing up high, don’t look down. Keep looking forward so you don’t get overwhelmed by how far up you are.” I’m really trying not to think how fast things are moving, so I can keep up. Lots of metaphors would fit here — gotta keep those plates spinning!

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YOUR TURN: What tried ‘n true tips would you recommend for setting and achieving goals?

And if you’d like to read more about goal setting tips from the rest of my group this week, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris*
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney *