‘Tis the season of vague goals and grand delusions.
Last year, in December, I vowed that 2013 was going to be the year in which I finished my novel, sold my non-fiction book, made six figures, wrote 1,000 words every single day, and went on four long holidays. Oh, and lose all the baby weight, train for a half-marathon, and get into the habit of sleeping before midnight.
It’s not that any of these things are impossible—in fact, most of them over a period of one year are extremely achievable—but yet again, I allowed myself to indulge in fantasy rather than realistically breaking down my targets and thinking about what they’d translate to on a day-to-day basis.
How many words did I need to write every day to finish that novel? How many hours would I need to bill to reach that six-figure income goal? Could I achieve all my professional goals if I was training for half-marathons given that I had a one-year-old (now almost two-year-old) child and I’d cut my hours in half?
Well, no.
The experts will tell you that you should break down your goals by the numbers, but you’re right-brained people and have told me repeatedly that you’d rather poke hot rods in your eye than come up with day-to-day goals for your creative projects. So, for those of you strange enough to not like lists and Excel sheets, here’s another solution: Set due dates.
In his book, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,” Robin Sharma writes: “Never set a goal without attaching a timeline to it. To breathe life into a goal you must attach a precise deadline to it. It’s just like when you are preparing cases for court; you always focus your attention on the ones the judge has scheduled to be heard tomorrow rather than on the ones without any court date.”
Or in more writerly words, if there’s no editor waiting for it on the other end, it’s not going to get written. Which is why you have to take that mean and nasty editor that sits over your shoulder and repeatedly reminds you of your insufficient talent as a writer and fling him across the table so that he can repeatedly remind you of your insufficient talent in finishing projects instead.
This year, as I’m setting goals for the next, I’m breaking down my projects into small parts and giving each part a reasonable and realistic due date. So, in order to achieve my six-figure freelancing goal, I’ll need to bill $100 an hour working 20 hours a week. Since I currently work 40 hours a week, that leaves me with another 20 hours for other projects (and Facebook). I’d like to start making $3,500 a month from my niche website, but that’s not going to happen overnight, so for the first month, my goal is $200, then $400, and so on. The due date for the first draft of my novel is March 31 (I only have about 20k more to go, which makes it an achievable and realistic target). And any other book-length projects will have to be tackled after that novel is finished. Too many books at once could spoil my 2014 broth.
Given 10+ years of experience, I think it’s fair to say that I’m not going to arrive on my desk on the morning of January 6 (a Monday) pumped up, fired, and ready to go, no matter how much I may insist that this year is going to be different (BEST YEAR EVAH, YO!). In fact, I think it may not be much of an exaggeration to say that I’ll be hungover and recovering from my two-week break, overwhelmed by the e-mails and work that will inevitably pile up while I’m away, and feeling demotivated and distracted because I’m back at work while my son plays in the next room as he still has another week of winter holidays left. (Yes, I’m jealous of a two-year-old.)
And I know, as you do, that the only way to cut through the crap and get back into work is with deadlines, be they from real editors who do exist or fake ones that can be just as loud and demanding.
2014 can be your best year ever (and I fully intend mine to be), but this year, be specific in defining what your goals and priorities are, and create individual plans for each to see how quickly and well you can achieve them. Give yourself concrete deadlines and stick to them. Allow yourself some room to play. Don’t forget to get real.
So tell me, have you started thinking about 2014 yet? What goals have you set for yourself and how are you planning to achieve them?