Great Writing Goals For 2016

So we are nearly halfway through the year and no doubt you have made some headway on your writing goals this so far. Did you stick to your New Year’s writing resolution? Did you manage to achieve everything you had hoped you would so far? If you are feeling a little disappointed with your writing progress this year, never fear! There is still plenty of time to get where you want to be, and understand that setting realistic and achievable goals is the best way to help you stay on track.

So whether you are already well underway, or haven’t even thought about setting yourself writing goals for 2016, now is the time to look back, reflect and adjust your goals and create new ones so you can continue to write great content, in whatever form, for the rest of the year.

Goal setting is all about thinking where you want to be, and working out how to get there. But you need to do this carefully. If you set goals that are impossible to achieve, then you will end up feeling demotivated and disappointed, and less likely to get anything done.

Here are some great ways to set your goals so you are more likely to achieve them.

Set Goals that keep you motivated

Make sure you really think about your goals. They need to be important to you, you need to want to make them happen. There is no point setting goals that you know you’ll naturally do - however good it feels to cross them off your list. They have to challenge you, and you have to know that working towards them will make you feel brilliant. Write down what is valuable and important in terms of your writing, make sure that you can easily convince yourself that these goals are worthwhile - what will it mean to achieve them? How will it move you forward? Making your goals a reality should bring you satisfaction and pride, if they don’t, they are not worth having in the first place.

Make sure your goals are SMART

Many businesses use the SMART rule to ensure that their employees are working towards goals that are useful, realistic and motivating. You should do the same when you think about your writing goals. SMART goals are

SMART goals are

Specific - Your goals should be clear and closed ended

Measurable - You should be able to quantify you goals - how many words do you need to write? How many stories do you want to finish? How many publishers do you need to contact, and so on.

Attainable - Make sure you know it is possible to achieve your goals otherwise you’ll end up feeling frustrated and demotivated

Relevant - Why are you setting this goal, what will it mean if you achieve it?

Time Bound - give yourself a deadline, otherwise you can easily keep putting them off! We all have other commitments in our lives so be realistic about your schedule. Are you really going to get up at 6am every single morning and write for an hour? Perhaps you are. But if you are not a morning person then find a different time, or try and do it one day a week instead of seven.

Create an Action Plan

Once you have set your goals, you need to work out how you are going to achieve them. Making an action plan for each one will help you understand exactly what you need to do in order to make that goal happen. It will give you a path to follow, a clear set of instructions in order for you to make a start. Without an action plan it is easy to feel lost or overwhelmed. If you can’t think of an action plan for your goal, perhaps you need to revisit whether it is possible to achieve it or not.

Don’t give up!

If you set realistic, achievable goals, there is not reason why you can’t achieve them. However, we all have days/ weeks/ months where it's hard to get motivated. There are always going to be unexpected things that crop up in our lives which change how much we can do, and it might be that for reasons outside your control you aren’t able to dedicate as much time as you had hoped to achieving your goals. Remember these goals are for you, so be flexible with yourself and try not to be too hard on yourself either. If you don’t get to where you need to be right away, just keep trying, the more you work at your writing goals the more likely you are to realise them.

Breaking down what you hope to achieve through your writing into meaningful goals is a great way to keep you working at your writing, developing your skills and honing your craft. Intentions are great, but they don’t mean anything unless you act. So keep your goals in mind, visualise how amazing you’ll feel if you achieve them, and just keep going -you’ll get there!

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