Setting Goals, Marking Deadlines and Re-evaluating
I set a goal for myself to finish a rewrite of my novel-in-progress by next Saturday, so that I could have it off my desk before the dreaded summer reading season hits. I have made some great progress, but I would have to lock myself in my room for next week to get that accomplished. I could be working on it right now, but I made a commitment to post to this blog once a week, and I have not broken that yet. When I have to surrender and say that I can’t make a self-imposed deadline, it is important to stop before I call it failure. Is it really? I have been writing consistently, daily for more than a month. I have made breakthroughs in the plot and characters.
When you don’t meet your self-imposed goals:
- Forgive yourself for not completing your assignment
- acknowledge what you did get done
- evaluate- ask, what stopped me from getting this done?
- come up with solutions for obstacles
- ask- do I still want to achieve this goal?
- reset deadlines
- reset goals
- ask for help from family and friends
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
Douglas Adams
I needed this one. Thanks!