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Setting Goals for January

Back in NY now, after spending some time with the family over the holidays. I’m completely wiped out, but looking forward to starting on my goals with the New Year!

In fact, I’m going to host a little informal “challenge” here on this blog starting on January 1st. You can challenge yourself to whatever goal you like. I imagine a lot of writers will be challenging themselves to write more, but you could also challenge yourself to work out 2 or 3 times a week, too. You don’t have to be a writer to participate.

Check back on the 1st with your goal in mind. You can comment on that initial challenge post with your goal and then check in each week to tell us how you did. Think of this as your support group for the month of January. It’s likely that if you can meet your goal for a month, you’ll be able to continue with it.

So here’s some advice to start thinking about your goal for January:

1. Make it achievable – if it’s a big goal like “write a novel”, chop it down to a managable size for the time allotted. A series of smaller goals is easier to achieve than one giant one. Personally, my goal will be something like “write 2,000 words per day, 5 days per week”. If I do more, great. But in the meantime, I’ve given myself a minimum goal to work toward.

2. Timeline it – if your ultimate goal is “write a book” or even “fit into a size 9″, figure out realistically how long that might take to achieve. I do this so I get a “big picture” idea of what I’m facing. To do this, take your starting point and your end point. In the case of a book, you might already have a plot in mind, but no words written. Okay, so decide how long you need your book to be – just a ballpark figure. I’m going to aim for 90,000 words. It might be more, might be less, but 90k is a good place to aim. If I write 2k a day each week, that’s 10k per week. It should therefore take me 9 weeks to write the book. Add an extra week on for polishing and in roughly 2.5 months, I should have a first draft. Voila! So if I stick to my goal, by the end of January, I should have at least half a book written. Cool, huh? Seeing the big picture helps me. It makes it more realistic somehow.

There are lots of experts out there to help you set realistic goals. I’ll try to dig up some research on that kind of thing to share with you, but I find one of the most important things is accountability. Hence this public challenge. If I have to report back on my progress, I’m more likely to do something. How about you?

So think about your goal and come back on the 1st. I’ll probably come up with some fun graphics you can use to brag with and I’m considering holding a drawing at the end, just for fun. I’ve also invited some writers to guest blog during the month to cheer us all on and maybe some other surprises, so stay tuned!

Now – if you’ve made it this far – do you think this is a good idea? Leave me a comment and let me know if you’re interested in participating. I’m still brainstorming this idea, so I’m open to suggestions!