I admit I hadn’t planned on writing out a goals list. I was browsing Twitter and @profitbaron said:
For your new years resolution: set a goal so big that if you actually achieve it, it would blow your mind
I tend to make my goals do-able. It’s not that I’m afraid of success, but I do have a healthy apprehension towards disappointment.
Goals should be tailored to better ones self, so I suppose I have some maintenance to do with myself. I’ve broken down for you all to see.
- Update this blog at least once a week.
- Read at least one book — fiction or otherwise — once a week.
- Spend quality time with my family each week, doing something new and exciting.
Those are my three safe goals. They’re achievable but would require more dedication and focus than anything else. So to go with @profitbaron’s suggestion. I have a few more.
Big, damn goals.
- Increase my freelance writing business to full time and fade away from the web design office. In other words, work from home.
- Write to completion at least five short stories. Before you say that’s not very many, keep in mind I tend to write a short story very slowly, with many drafts.
In order to keep motivated, I’ve setup an account with JoesGoals.com. It’s a convenient way to keep track of progress, and to let you all know if I’ve kept my word.
So what goals did you set for yourself? I’ll update this post with links if to other goal oriented posts.
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I posted a summary of my achievements in 2009 on my blog, along with a few goals for 2010 and some thoughts on why I don’t really go for New Year resolutions. I work on projects all year round, reviewing my progress along the way (NOT just once per year), and I set new goals when I complete the existing ones.
I think it is a really bad idea to set such huge objectives if you stand little to no chance of achieving them. Sure, be ambitious, but be realistic. If you genuinely believe you can achieve your goals in the timeframe you’ve set for yourself, by all means go for it. But why not set a smaller objective for a shorter timeframe that would put you on the road towards the larger objective?
You also have to look at why previous objectives failed in order to move forward. Writing a blog post on a weekly basis can seem doable for the first few months, but as the weeks go more quickly and life gets busy, it’s all too easy to abandon this goal. I’ve blogged daily, weekly, 3 times a week, had a break for 6 weeks before writing some of my best posts, and so on. I would suggest making this goal a bit more specific – I think it’s far better to write 2 great posts a month than force yourself to write 1 post every single week even if you have nothing much to say. Trust me – I’ve been there!
If you’re interested, I have a few posts at Top Ten Blog Tips relating to New Year resolutions (or more specifically, setting achievable objectives all year round).
Ben´s last blog ..Are you overshadowing yourself?
I agree with most of what you’ve said. The smaller objectives I could set out would put me on pace to realizing the larger ones. I’m still considering my goals and have some projects I would like to revive and get into action. I think I’ll start there.
I want to be a successful blogger, so I feel I need to update all the time, but that’s not realistic. I just need to be somewhat consistent. That’s what my goal should reflect — the desire to put out good content regularly.
Thanks for the comment, Ben.
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