New Year, New Goals

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Welcome to 2015!

I love beginnings! I love their squeaky cleanness: the fresh start, the blank page, the endless possibilities.

I’m one of those annoying people that set resolutions for the new year. But out of habit from so many years in school, I also do it at the start of the traditional academic year, summer, my birthday, each month….well you get the idea.

Unsurprisingly, I have a laundry list of goals set for this year. But thanks to a fabulous group I belong to on Facebook, I’ve done things differently this year. I could smack myself for not doing it earlier too. My 2015 goals are SMART goals. Setting SMART goals isn’t something new, I learned about it ad nauseam while earning my public health degree. I use it in my day job. My kids use the same principles in elementary school.

SMART goals are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time specific.

Duh.

As a consummate goal setter, you’d think I’d apply the same type of principle to my writing. Nope.

So instead of my usual vague New Year’s resolution of “write every day”, this year I have “write 500 words minimum daily”. Too easy? Maybe. But juggling 3 kids, a day-job, and all of life’s roller-coaster antics is exhausting in its own right. Add in a fledgling indie writing career and BAM! you’ve got a recipe for chaos.

Goals need to be realistic and achievable. Set yourself up for success not the crash-and-burn of failure. After a 10 hour work day, chores, and all the fun that comes with wrangling a toddler to sleep, do you think 2000 words is a realistic goal? 1000? Maybe for another writer, but not me.

Especially when you add in all the other goals I have set for 2015.

However, I generally have one kid-free day off during the week. Eight hours of silence. Sigh. I’ve increased my word-count goal to 2000 minimum on those blissful days. I will do nothing. Nothing! Until I’ve met that goal. No social media (ohhhh that’s a challenge), no chores, no errands, n-o-t-h-i-n-g.

One of my goals is this blog. I’ll be blogging once a week. That’s 52 posts over the course of 2015. (See, I’m doing the SMART thing again.) Hopefully this will not only be a fun creative venture for me, connect me to YOU – my wonderful readers – but also have the added side benefit of accountability. I hate to fail.

Hate. It.

So putting myself and my goals out there – out HERE – for general public scrutiny is a pressure-filled way of holding myself accountable for these goals. Will it work? Who knows. But you can tag along for the ride and we can work it out together.

Did you set goals or resolutions for the new year?  Share them below – writing related or not. We can hold each other accountable.