My Process to Define Goals
It allowed me to participate in a 30-day writing challenge without burnout
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”
– Lawrence J. Peter
What is a Goal?
The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.
The gift of consciousness in a human being drives the need for ambition. Your ambition leads to success. The crucial skill in the journey to reach your success is the ability to set goals. Visualizing your success allows you to define and set your goals better.
So, what type of goals should you have?
Long Term Goals
- Have a long-term goal that you want to achieve in the next five years.
- The most important goal is to define your success.
Examples:1. What is your definition of living?
2. How much do you want to earn in the next five years?Short Term Goals
- Have a short-term goal that you want to achieve in the next few months.
Examples:1. How to bring in discipline/consistency?
2. How to make your work accessible to more people?Here is how to Define Your Goals
Have specific, clear, realistic, and concise goals
Imagination is critical to reaching your desired destination. If you are a writer like myself, you unquestionably imagine yourself a published author, probably doing a book tour or reading somewhere. I know, I imagine it.
But how to turn this vision into a reality.
By sitting around all day, writing something here and there, and being lost in the dream world where I am recognized as a writer by the world.
Heck no!
What to do?
- Setting goals that are motivating and measurable
- Make a plan and stick with it
- Focus on the process/journey rather than the results
It took me a while to figure out the goals that motivate me to write, and I can also measure the progress. During the process of figuring it out, I came across a 30-day writing challenge:
This was both motivating and measurable at the same time. I was motivated because this writing challenge will encourage me to write different articles. After all, I will submit 30 articles in 30 days to 30 publications. Writing in different genres will allow me to learn and be a better writer. Hence the motivation. The measurable aspect would be that I have 30 articles in 30 days.
The plan to successfully complete this challenge was an interesting one for me. Before starting the challenge, I knew that it wouldn't be possible for me to write every day as a full-time student doing a part-time job. I had in my mind to have buffer days when I won't be able to write.
After an elongated contemplation, this is the plan I came up with:
- On the days I can write, I will write first thing in the morning to focus on other things during the rest of the day.
- I set a personal target of writing 2,000 words on my writing days. Also, I will write in a free-flow manner without editing during writing or immediately after writing.
- I dedicated the first one hour of every writing day to edit the previously written articles. This allowed a fresh perspective on the already written article.
This article that you are reading is for day 24. To this day, I haven't faltered in the plan I described above. And I have written all my 30 articles for the challenge. The goal for 2,000 words on writing days allowed me to be proactive. This will allow me to submit the articles on their designated days and focus on my upcoming exams.
This plan has been successful because my focus has been on writing. I am not checking the stats on how my articles are performing. I love writing, and I recognize that I am participating in this writing challenge because I want to write. I will check the stats once the challenge gets over because I will write another post describing my experience throughout the challenge. This has been enjoyable so far because I am focusing on the process rather than the outcomes.
Putting it All Together
To make your goals successful:
- Define both short and long term goals
- Have specific, clear, realistic, and concise goals
- Set goals that are motivating and measurable
- Make a plan and stick with it
- Focus on the process/journey rather than the results
Thank you for reading.
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Hi, I am Tarun Gupta, and I write about many things, but I enjoy writing poetry, life lessons, and fiction the most. You can find all my posts here in this index.
