On Goals
New Year’s resolutions are a bit passé, admittedly, and that is most likely because they’re usually impossible to keep. And why is that? Well, it might be because we set our sights too high, or it might be because we don’t really take them seriously. So this year I didn’t make any resolutions. Instead, I set goals for myself. And I didn’t set them on January 1st – I’ve actually been thinking about them and setting them throughout the whole month.
Here’s the difference between a resolution and a goal. Resolutions are usually negative (stop this habit, etc.), whereas goals are positive (reach this milestone, accomplish this task). And because goals focus on the achievement, they are more measurable, and therefore, more attainable. If you make a resolution to stop eating chips, and then you eat a bag of Ruffles in February, you say “Oh well” and you toss out the whole resolution. If you make a goal to eat more healthy snacks – one bag of Ruffles isn’t going to destroy your whole goal.
One of my goals was to lose about 10 pounds. I’ve lost 4 so far, and I’m feeling good. I reward myself for eating REALLY well during the week by eating a few junk items (Five Guys Burgers & Fries) on the weekend – and I still stay under my weekly calorie goal. Right now I use myfitnesspal to track food and exercise, but I’m soon going to purchase a Jawbone UP wristband and switch to their system.
Other goals are more long-term. For instance – I’m going to be a father this year. I have goals in place for raising my son. I know I won’t always be a perfect dad, but there are things I can check back on and ask myself whether I’m doing a good enough job against the goals I’m setting now. I’ve got friends and family who know about these things, and who will be honest with me when I ask them how I’ve been doing. Accountability is important if you want to reach your goals.
Another goal I have is to finish draft 1 of a novel by the time my son is 1 year old. This is only deceptively ambitious (which I must keep telling myself). My son, if all goes according to plan, will be born some time in late May. That means I have until at least the end of April 2014 to write a novel. My plan is to start writing in May of this year, and end up with somewhere between 90,000 and 100,000 words at the end of it (which is a pretty good length for a first novel).
That’s about 250 words a day. I’ve just written over 400 here and I’m still going strong. 250 words is NOTHING. Anyone could do that. Takes 20 minutes or less if you can focus. I’m using something called the Magic Spreadsheet to hold myself to writing at least 250 words a day. It’s pretty great – and you can all see when I’ve missed a day because it’s a totally public document. I encourage you to use it if you’re a writer. It will be a proper website soon, I’m told.
Right now, I’m using my words on some short fiction I need to wrap up, and on the Snowflake for my upcoming novel project. Every day I get a little closer to my goals.
What goals have you set? How are you doing with them?
