January 1st has come and gone. Though many warned that if you hadn’t already planned 2015 way back in like November of last year, then you were already behind. So what does that mean? That you either plan late and accept being behind? Or what?
In this little space we have going here, we’re just going to step right over that and keep going. Because I don’t believe in being behind or being too late. Unless we’re catching the bus or something, but even then, another one is coming!
Maybe you were a little fuzzy in some areas. I set beaucoup professional goals, but in the areas of my physical, emotional, financial, sexual, and social well-being, I kind of slacked. I knew that I wanted them to be a little challenging, yeah, but realistic more so. What ended up happening was that I spent my time and energy getting crystal clear on how I wanted to improve my business and finish my books, but swam right past everything else.
That’s not a bad thing though. I hadn’t discarded them from my mind. I simply let it flow. I was feeling them out. As the saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I follow a number of blogs in many different subject matters, and lo and behold, right after the New Year, some feel-good resources began pouring in.
One of them included a Live Richer Financial Challenge. And she isn’t recommending that I stop buying books or going out to eat, so she’s alright with me. Again, it’s important that my goals are challenging but reasonable and adherent to the approach that 70% of my life will be spent doing things that I enjoy, and then the other 30% will be spent defining and implementing the steps toward my goals. Get in on the 70/30 approach here.
Collectively, I’ve concluded that the best way to set your goals are to:
1. Reflect/review the past.
This is where you figure out what mistakes you’ve made or where something didn’t exactly feel good. Do this for each specific area that you are creating goals in. For instance, regarding my finances, it did not feel good at all to be broke as shit after buying holiday gifts.
2. Scribble down your needs/desires.
What do you need and what do you want? Don’t skimp on your wants. Be thorough each one. Financially, for instance, regarding your needs, you’ll want to cover your financial baseline; these are the must-haves. Then you’ll want to factor in stuff like wanting to travel internationally three times this year.
3. Be specific!
If you want to finish your novel this year, then what will that require? I’m writing a 80k word novel, for instance. I currently have about 50k words and want to finish my first draft by January 31st. As of today, I have 24 days left. Divide that my remaining 30k words and I have a goal of 1,250 words per day. Regarding word counts, here is a general rule of thumb:
- 10,000 words = pamphlet
- 20,000 words = short eBook or print book
- 40,000–50,000 words = good-sized nonfiction book
- 60,000–70,000 words = longer nonfiction book
- 80,000 words–100,000 words: typical novel length
4. Write them down.
“Write it down on real paper with a real pencil. And watch shit get real.” –Erykah Badu
“If you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal–you have a wish.” –Steve Maraboli
“Write the vision and make it plain…” –Habakkuk 2:2
5. Post them somewhere visible.
Maybe you do an actual vision board with a poster, or maybe you do on Pinterest. Maybe you don’t do a vision board at all (though I highly recommend that you do). After you’ve written it down, post it above your workspace. Make it your screensaver or your wallpaper on your phone. This serves as a constant reminder, so it’s important that you don’t skip this step.
6. Share them for accountability.
I have friends who will gladly support my decision to eat better. However, if I called them saying that I was craving a Blondie from AppleBee’s, they’d beat me there. Love them to death, but these ain’t the friends who I’d consider my accountability partners. You want someone who will support you, yeah, but who will also do their best to help keep you in line. It helps to have either someone with similar goals or someone who’s very disciplined in that particular area already.
For accountability in the space of writing, check out my 21 Days of Accountability program. As the title suggests, for 21 days, I will help you create or refine your goals and stick to them. For 21 days, I’ll be checking in with you to make sure that you’re on track and to help you hurdle over any obstacles.
Again, don’t allow anyone to have you feeling behind the curve. There’s no such thing. If you know of any other goal-setting tips that would benefit our tribe, please comment and share them. As with the Live Richer Challenge, I also share other (free or ridiculously discounted) resources that you’d find valuable in my weekly newsletter. Click here to subscribe.