Goal Setting

Bekki Hill

10 Rules for Goal Setting 

The way we set goals can make a huge difference to how hard or easy our journey to achieving them is and even to whether we accomplish them or not. Using the following ten goal setting rules can help make your journey smoother and increase your chances of success. 

One: Define your target. 

Define your target by asking yourself what you want to achieve. For example you might want to finish a first draft, get an agent or draw for two hours each day. Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish allows you to: 

• Identify the best steps to take to achieve it. 
• Focus fully and accurately on accomplishing it. 
• Recognise when you have achieved your goal. 

Two: Phrase your goals using the four Ps. 

The way goals are phrased is very important. 

‘I have completed the first draft of my novel Stardust by December 31st 2014.’ Is a well phrased goal, because it is: 

Personal - The goal belongs to the person who is achieving it. 

Precise - The goal states exactly what will be achieved and when it will be achieved. 

Present Tense - Writing a goal in the present tense allows our subconscious to see the goal as ‘happening’ now. This motivates us to work on it immediately and not put it off until later. 

Positive - Goals that state we will lose or not do something are unattractive to our subconscious and therefore we will be less highly motivated to achieve them. 

‘I will not procrastinate when I should be writing.’ is a poorly phrased goal, because:

• It is negative – it says what you don’t want to do. 
• There is no timeframe telling you when you will achieve your goal. 
• It is ill-defined, because it does not tell you what you will be doing when you are not procrastinating or when the times are that you will be writing. 

This goal would be much better rephrased as: 

‘I write for two hours from 7- 9 pm every weekday evening by October 31st 2014.’ 

Three: Take control of your goal. 

Goals such as writing 500 words a day, completing a first draft of a novel in six months or spending three hours illustrating each day are fully within your control. However, goals like finding an agent or signing a book deal depend on other peoples’ choices and actions. Since you cannot take full control of the goals like these, set appropriate goals that should bring you to have what you want. For example, if you want an agent, you could set a goal to make a certain number of submissions each month and/or to attend appropriate networking events. 

Four: Break big goals into smaller chunks. 

It’s easy to put off working towards a goal or lose focus on a goal if we see it as something we won’t achieve for a very long time. Long-term goals may also seem so big that accomplishing them feels impossible or highly unlikely so we don’t even start working towards them. Always break big goals into smaller goals that build to achieve the bigger goal. 

Five: Create an action plan. 

Identify exactly what actions you are going to take to achieve your goal and when you are going to take them. 

Six: Be realistic about what you can achieve. 

Beware of creating plans that don’t make the most of your time and abilities as well as ones that are so hard or time consuming they’re doomed to failure from the start. 

Seven: Write down your goals.

Writing goals down helps you to remember to work on them and to focus on them more clearly. It is also good to write down your action plans for exactly the same reasons. 

Eight: Don’t be afraid to move the goal posts. 

Once you start working on a goal, you may discover the parameters you originally identified need to be changed. This is fine, as long as you are honest with yourself about why they need changing. 

Nine: Remember everything is a learning experience. 

Thomas Edison is quoted as saying “I have not failed 700 times. I’ve succeeded in proving 700 ways how not to build a light bulb.”* Whether you ‘succeed’ or ‘fail’ to achieve a goal you set, always identify what you have learned on the journey and how you will use this learning in the future. 

Ten: Create a positive experience. 

When you achieve a goal, celebrate your success. If you ‘fail’ to achieve it, don’t be too hard on yourself if there are good reasons you didn’t succeed. However, don’t be too kind to yourself if you haven’t got good reasons. 

 *Edison originated this idea in an interview for the New York Times, however the exact words he used are disputed.

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Bekki Hill is a Writing and Creativity Coach and the author of NLP for Writers, Coach Yourself to Writing Success and The Bullet Guide to Life Coaching. Bekki also wrote a coaching column in Mslexia for eight years and has published short stories and features in popular magazines. She also delivers workshops based on her experience as a coach and a writer. Find Bekki at www.thewritecoach.co.uk and @bekkiwritecoach.

Planting Good Foundations

By Bekki Hill

 New Year is often the time when we decide to start a new project or find renewed enthusiasm to work on a project. However our initial surge of enthusiasm can fade quickly. Here are five ways to help ensure that a new start is based on strong foundations which build in motivation and reduce your chances of getting stuck, bogged down, giving up or procrastinating. 

Make Sure You’re Working on the Right Project 

It can be easy to get caught up in the initial enthusiasm for an idea only to realise later that you’d rather be working on something else. Consider the following before you start: 

• Does the project really interest and excite you? 

• What other ideas/projects do you have filed away on the back burner? 

• Is this project taking you towards becoming the writer/Illustrator you want to be? 

• Is there something you would rather be working on or that it will be better for you to be working on? 

Check You’re Not Biting off More than You Can Chew 

Although it is important not to allow life events to become procrastination tools, it’s equally important to make sure we don’t place expectations on ourselves that are impossible to fulfil. Consider where life is likely to take you over the next few months. Are there any big changes or challenges coming up? Consider both what you’ll be welcoming into your life as well as what you’d rather not have to deal with. If you recognise there will be significant changes or challenges, ask yourself: 

• How much will these intrude on my time? 

• How much will these intrude on my mental space? 

• Is this the right project to be starting at this point? 

• Do I need to modify my expectations of how quickly I will complete this project? 

• Would I be better off working on a less demanding project? 

Make a Good Start 

Different people work in different ways, so how you start working on a project, or even what you consider to be the ‘start’ of a project, will depend on who you are. However, the sort of questions it can be helpful to ask early on in a project are: 

• Is there a better story I could be telling here? 

• Is my story being told from the right perspective? 

• Have I chosen the right central character(s) 

• Are all the characters essential? 

• Do I know how my story ends? 

• Do I need to know how my story ends? 

• Do I need to do more research, character development or plotting? 

Of course you will always need to go back and make changes to your initial drafts and ideas, but checking that you are making a good start can reduce the number of blind alleyways you might otherwise run up. 

Set Daily Targets 

If we don't give our brain a target to aim for it's easy to lose focus and procrastinate. If our target is a long way off, we will also find it easy to lose focus and procrastinate. Setting a daily objective, such as the number of hours you will draw/write each day, gives you an immediate focus. It also means you quickly know when you miss or have set an unrealistic target. 

Develop a Habit

In his book, On Writing, Stephen King says that when you are writing a story, you should write every day. In this he includes weekends, bank holidays, birthdays and any other day us mere mortals might think we can take off. This is, of course, sound advice (and just as applicable that illustrators should draw every day), but not just because we make daily progress. Writing or illustrating every day means we turn it into a habit and once a habit is formed it’s much harder to break our stride. 

In reality it may be impossible for you to work on a project every day. You can however still develop a habit. Consider the pattern of your day-to-day and week-to-week life and how it would be best to work regularly on your project. For example you may have young school age children who make working weekends out of the question, however you can still develop a weekday habit. 

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@bekkiwritecoach

Bekki Hill is a Writing and Creativity Coach who assists writers to increase creativity, boost motivation and overcome blocks. She is the author of Coach Yourself to Writing Success and NLP for Writers. Bekki has published short stories and magazine features and for eight years wrote a column for Mslexia. Bekki lives in Devon with her dog and her husband. Find Bekki here