The One Writing Goal I Won’t Focus on Next Year

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Abstract

that the mere act of setting year-long targets would help me reach them?I know what you’re thinking: “Well, had you been on track you would’ve thought that setting outcome targets had made all the difference. You’d be posting about how writing them down helped you visualize them and will them into existence.”And such a post would be bullsh*t. There’s no magical willing anything into existence. Also, I didn’t do anything different or new to reach those crazy stupid targets. I just kept up with the program, so to say. I kept writing and publishing on my blog and on Medium with the same intensity as the year before, and the results, as measured in follower and dollar numbers, are what they are.And that’s OK! My process, mediocre as it may be, is what helped me make the gains I did make in terms of audience and quality.<h2 id="4272">Everything is a process.<

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/h2>If I do set myself a focus for 2022, it will have to do with process, which I can largely control and where I have infinite room for growth.Getting a job is a process. You need to research, send resumes, interview, follow up, send more resumes, get more than one offer (hopefully!), and decide on which offer to accept.Taking care of a loved one is a process. Recovery is a process, sometimes lifelong.Dying is a process. It may be long if you have a terminal illness, or short if you’re in a fatal car crash. It may be violent or peaceful. It may be faced alone or surrounded by loved ones. But it always is a process.Writing is a process, and I shall stay immersed in it. If I do set myself a focus for 2022, it will have to do with process, which I can largely control and where I have infinite room for growth.</article></body>

If I do set myself a focus for 2022, it will have to do with process, not outcome.

Here’s something useless I did at the beginning of this year: I set myself follower, subscriber and dollar targets for Medium and my blog. Not only that, I wrote the numbers down. Worse still, I’m embarrassed to admit, I wrote them on a big old whiteboard by my desk so that I couldn’t avoid seeing them.

By June, it was obvious I wasn’t on track to reach them. Why did it occur to me that the mere act of setting year-long targets would help me reach them?

I know what you’re thinking: “Well, had you been on track you would’ve thought that setting outcome targets had made all the difference. You’d be posting about how writing them down helped you visualize them and will them into existence.”

And such a post would be bullsh*t. There’s no magical willing anything into existence. Also, I didn’t do anything different or new to reach those crazy stupid targets. I just kept up with the program, so to say. I kept writing and publishing on my blog and on Medium with the same intensity as the year before, and the results, as measured in follower and dollar numbers, are what they are.

And that’s OK! My process, mediocre as it may be, is what helped me make the gains I did make in terms of audience and quality.

Everything is a process.

If I do set myself a focus for 2022, it will have to do with process, which I can largely control and where I have infinite room for growth.

Getting a job is a process. You need to research, send resumes, interview, follow up, send more resumes, get more than one offer (hopefully!), and decide on which offer to accept.

Taking care of a loved one is a process. Recovery is a process, sometimes lifelong.

Dying is a process. It may be long if you have a terminal illness, or short if you’re in a fatal car crash. It may be violent or peaceful. It may be faced alone or surrounded by loved ones. But it always is a process.

Writing is a process, and I shall stay immersed in it. If I do set myself a focus for 2022, it will have to do with process, which I can largely control and where I have infinite room for growth.