So. One month of the year, already gone. How are you doing on your goals?
By now, you’ve probably got a system going in order to keep up with what you want to be doing. You’ve figured out which goals you’re going to keep, and which ones, despite your best intentions, may have been too ambitious.
It’s time to revisit. And maybe even do a little bit of pruning.
1. What does your monthly income look like in comparison to your goals?
Did you aim for $3,000 when you’ve only made $500 in the last few months and about $1,000 this month? Take a good look at your goals and make sure they’re (a) in relation how you’ve been doing over the past six months and (b) in relation to how you did this month.
2. Have you been as productive as you thought you would?
This is where most freelancers over-estimate. In thinking we’re going to send out a pitch every day, keep in touch with all our friends, organize our computers, edit all our photos, and write three articles a week, we start out strong but start taking five-hour naps in the afternoon by the end of the work week. If you set some productivity outputs but haven’t met them, it’s time to fine-tune those goals now and not in January 2010.
3. What have you learned during this month of January?
Maybe you’ve discovered that despite your best intentions, you never got back to that novel you started. Maybe you’ve been under-selling yourself by thinking you could only do so much when you’re capable of a lot more. Look closely at January. It’s possibly an accurate representation of what the next six months may look like.
4. Have you achieved any goals already?
Say a magazine you’ve been meaning to write for? Then you’re obviously doing something right. Keep doing it!
The end of January is a great time to look at your goals and expectations and match them with the realities of your situation. You’re not too far ahead in the year and you still have some reality to base that assessment on. Doing so will avoid disappointments over too-ambitious goals in the months that follow.