kristaphillips Wow, can you believe it’s 2009?!?
Everyone and their brother is probably blogging about their goals this week, and heck, who am I to break tradition?
A few weeks ago, I posted about how to make goals and solicited ideas about how YOU make goals. I’ve been thinking about the responses, along with my own experiences, and this is the result.
So, without further ado:
Krista’s Rules for Goal Making
1.) PRAY about them. A goal is only as good as the God who inspires it.
2.) Make your goals attainable! “I want to finish writing 20 books this year and have 10 of them sell” is, well, unattainable. Unrealistic goals lead to shattered hopes which lead to feelings of failure which leads to the dreaded word “quit”.
3.) But don’t sell yourself short. If you set the bar too low, you aren’t challenging yourself to do better. Make a goal that you KNOW you can reach, then add an extra step that stretches you.
4.) Goals should be specific and measurable. In my day job, this is critical when setting goals. If you can’t measure a goal for completion, or if it is left up to interpretation, it is much easier to cheat. (i.e. I want to lose 5 pounds… but I never said I couldn’t gain any back… – or – I want to finish writing a book… but I never said how long it has to be (10K words will sell right?!?)
5.) Define the terms and time lines. Pace yourself, make some goals due earlier in the year, and some at the end of the year. Otherwise, you might panich on 12/15/09 and realize everything you procrastinated and didn’t get done!
6.) Set long term and short term goals. Short term goals are specific and help you achieve your long term, more generic goals. “I want to have a book published” is a long term goal, and “Attend a writer’s conference” or “Get x amount of words written on a manuscript” are short term goals to work towards the big one.
7.) Combine inner and outer goals. Inner goals help improve yourself and outer goals are specific actions you want to complete. (i.e. I want to improve my writer habits- inner vs. I want to sell this book by x date-outer.)
8.) Renegotiate when needed. If you are half-way through the year, and your goals are now unachievable due circumstances called LIFE, it’s easy to get discouraged and throw in the towel. Allow yourself to renegotiate. In the end, GOD should rule what you do, not some silly goal you set for yourself a few months ago before everything got crazy.
Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing my goals with you, why I picked them and how they meet the above criteria. My hope is that this helps you a little in your OWN goal making, whether it be writing related, regarding your personal/family life, or even in your job. I also want to keep myself accountable, and what better way to do so than to broadcast on the Internet your plans for all the world to see if you fail! ha!
Blessings everyone, hope you had a GREAT Christmas and New Year’s, and look forward to a wonderful year of blogging together!
