Happy Cinco de Mayo mi amigas y amigos!
Now that I got that out of the way let’s move on to my problem. I’ve always had a hard time setting goals. Short-term, long-term, you name it. I get palpitations at the thought of having to write down five year goals. It’s not that I don’t manage to accomplish things, I do. It’s just that the things I do accomplish rarely come from a list of items to be ticked off.
I do envy people who are good at setting goals and achieving them. I have friends who are so good at it they actually give talks on the subject. And yes, before you ask, I have attended their talks. I even wrote down some goals. Or at least I thought they were goals. Turns out some of my goals were actually aspirations. Writing five pages a day, every day is a goal. Making the New York Times Bestseller’s list is an aspiration. Who knew? Certainly not me until I took the goal writing class for the second time. Goals are things you have control over achieving. Aspirations, not so much.
I think the hardest thing about goal-setting is knowing what you want. You’d think that would be easy, but it’s not. At least not for me. I’m one of those people who really don’t know what they want. It’s much easier for me to tell you what I don’t want. I know, it says a lot about me. *g*
I do know that I want to keep writing supernatural romances and urban fantasies, but those things aren’t really goals. They’re also not aspirations. Scratches head. I’m not really sure where they fall. Hopefully by now you understand why I have such a problem with setting goals. 
For those of you who’ve mastered goal setting, how did you do it? If you don’t set goals, what do you do to get things accomplished?
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Being a businessgal, I’m also a goal gal. I figured out a long time ago that I was interested in too much to get anything done if I flitted from interest to interest.
So I make a list of things I want to do. Break down that list into a task or two I can do daily (leaving a lot of open time for my flitting around). I try to do those things first (an eat-your-veggies-first type of mindset) and then spend the rest of the day doing whatever, knowing I’m one step closer to accomplishing my dreams.
But I do this because it works for me. Just as everyone has their own writing style and schedule, so it goes with goal setting.
In my case, my attitudes toward goal-setting are rooted in childhood, when unrealistic (if not downright impossible) goals were set for me, and much ado was made about being a FAILURE. Thirty years later, I don’t need the pressure and the hammering on my self-esteem, thanks. Just chillax, yo.
My goals now are along the lines of “write a 10,000- to 15,000-word story.” No deadline attached, no other specifics dictated. It will get done because I want to do it, but it will get done when it gets done. Now, if the intended market suddenly said, “There’s a Friday cutoff on submissions,” it would probably get done by Friday, but if it didn’t, I wouldn’t beat myself up over it because I don’t have a commitment to them.
On the other hand, if someone else is relying on me to do something, it will be done on time or ahead of schedule because I’m neurotic about letting people down. But if no one else is going to be affected by my aversion to the whole Goal-Setting Production, I really fare much better with as much freedom as possible, with higher-quality results than if I were laboring under duress.
Oh, I’m a goal-setter. I have to be or I’d soon be buried under dirty diapers and laundry.
And that would leave no time for writing. It’s a small, but essential part of daily scheduling. 
I’ve written a series of articles on scheduling as a stay-at-home, homeschooling, novel-writing mom at my Star Captains’ Daughter blog. starcaptainsdaughter.blogspot.com
click on ’scheduling’ under the ‘Continuing Sagas’ heading on the right sidebar.
Well, what you want can change. Goals can change. And probably should.
Knowing what you want to write, at least for the forseeable future, is a good start. From there you can figure out how many books you want to write per year, what’s comfortable for you, and develop a plan. There’s a terrific book, “Write It Down, Make It Happen” that talks about all different ways to figure out what you want and get it.
First, thanks for pointing out the difference between goals and aspirations. Setting as a “goal” something over which you have no control is, IMO, a good way to make yourself nuts. If not hugely depressed, because you didn’t “meet” your goal.
Absolutely, set goals to write so many pages a day, get a book finished by a certain date, query X number of agents/editors by the following week, or the like. And be prepared to rinse and repeat.
However, saying “I’m gonna have a contract with Big NY Publisher by this time next year” falls under the positive thinking umbrella, not the goals one.
Because stuff happens. Lots ‘n’ lots of stuff, in publishing. In life. And any author who doesn’t find that weird balance between discipline and letting go is setting him/herself up for major anxiety issues down the road. Trust me on this.
At the beginning of my career, I was writing like the wind, submitted on a lark (swear to God), with the attitude of “let’s see if what I do and what ‘they’ want match.” Oddly, it did, and I’ve been contracted pretty much ever since. But even more oddly, despite sharing breathing at the time with five sons ranging in age from 1 to 16, I had more control over my life than I do now with a very elderly mother and a baby grandson who somehow keeps showing up my house when I least expect it. Whatever “goals” I have at this point must of necessity be extremely relaxed and flexible — otherwise I get way too frustrated and consequently overstressed.
Which is my roundabout way of saying…just as with everything else, goal-setting is individual. You have to be realistic, taking into account your real life commitments, your ability to be flexible and how much pressure you can exert on yourself before your head explodes.
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Kimber, That makes sense. At least you know yourself well enough to build in flitting time.
Kerry, I’m not sure where my goal-setting aversion comes from. I do understand what you are talking about though. I’m definitely better with a deadline, but I make sure that I don’t get very close to it. Freaks me out. *ggg*
Kimber An, I definitely check it out.
Charli, I do know that much (ie what I want to write and how many books a year I want to write). I guess I’m farther ahead than I thought. *g* I actually picked up that book thanks to your recommendation. I just haven’t read it yet.
Karen, Thank you! I submitted manuscripts like you for the first few years. Pretty much wanted to see what would stick. Thankfully that changed as I got more and more comfortable with what I wanted to write. I do agree that flexible is the best when it comes to writing goals, since so MANY things can come up.
Roxanne St. Claire gave a great workshop a year ago on goal setting. She passed on the following tips: (note — all credit for these go to her)
1. Write every goal on paper and make sure it is MEASURABLE
2. Post your goals where you will see them every day
3. Don’t go to bed until you’ve written a word minimum (250-500)
4. Keep a daily track of words/pages produced
5. Do one thing every day, first thing in the morning that’s on your goal list.
6. Call your goal buddy once a week and do a report
7. Write slow and steady instead of fast and furious (2 pages a day is 10 pages a week or easily a book in a year, with editing and time for submission)
8. Get a goal calendar–dry erase four months, write your page goals and check them every week.
9. Don’ let the sun go down on a rejection — the day one comes in, get another submission out.
10. Pick your conferences and contests early in the year and ENTER them as soon as possible — don’t wait until the last minute.
I wish I could say I succeeded at keeping them … but the ‘measurable’ is something to take to heart. Otherwise, you kick yourself. Dreams aren’t goals.
Wow Terry! These are great! Thanks for sharing.
Credit goes to Roxanne St. Claire. I just copied and pasted.
If you go back to my blog and look at my early January posts for this year, you’ll see that I wasn’t all that successful at meeting my goals.
Terry, Well I appreciate Roxanne’s hard work.
From what I gather, goals can be a work in progress.