Reaching goals on autopilot

I’m so excited for the new year! But obviously resolutions really aren’t my thing anymore. Goals, however, are a different story. I set goals all the time—and I want to try to achieve my goals on autopilot this year.

That doesn’t mean coasting through the year, or setting absurdly low goals so I can achieve them, though. I kind of beasted Nano 2011, and—especially the first week—I managed to do this without the world falling down around the ears. I’m the mom, of course, and I set the pace of the household. I do most of the housework. So how did I write 5000-6000 words a day (hours and hours of work) without running out of meals and clean underwear for the family?

Planning.

I was already used to one very useful phone alarm: a 15 minute warning to the time we need leave for Hayden’s school. So I decided to expand on that and use the phone alarm to remind me to do laundry (and switch it, fold it, and hand it off to the kids to put away), work with the kids to empty the dishwasher, read with the kids, start dinner and go to bed on time.

Dinners were also planned: I took the calendar for the month and planned out our meals. Since I knew I’d be working hard, I focused on quick meals, slow cooker meals, meals I’ve squirreled away in the freezer, and family favorites. Themed nights were also big helps. It took a couple hours to write it out, but then for the rest of the month, meal planning was handled and I could just look at the calendar to make out my shopping list.

Even blog posts (on four blogs!) were planned the month in advance. Topics and dates went on the calendar. I made up post drafts for each of those days with the topics all ready to go. I stockpiled topics and full posts. On weekends, I filled in the remaining posts and scheduled them to go.

It actually went really well—until I finished my novel. And then I let a lot of it fall apart. But all that advanced planning helped me to maintain a good routine, be productive and run the house better than I usually did.

So how can that apply to other goals?

Schedule them now.

If you want to write 1000 words a day, pick a time and put it in your schedule. (Doing it at the same time each day can help, too.) Unplug from the Internet. Schedule a time with the fewest kids distractions around. I’ve used a handy plugin that would block certain time-wasting websites during certain times of the day—another helper.

If you want to read a certain number of books next year, start collecting recommendations. Figure out whether you prefer reading on an eReader/mobile device (if you have one) or paper book. I like library books since they come with built-in deadlines—and, oh yeah, they’re free.

If you’re trying to research a project, make a list of resources, get them and give yourself a timeline to read them.

If you want to lose weight, schedule your exercise sessions with yourself. Make up healthy meal plans in advance. Buy and prepare healthy snacks.

We all know that goals should to be broken down into steps to be achievable. But what it really comes down to is to just do it, to quote Nike. Little reminders and baby steps help me.

What does it take to help you just do it?

Photo by Kent Wein

Wherein we review gloss over last year

So as last year drew to a close, I saw a lot of friends posting reviews of their 2011 Resolutions: accomplished this, failed that, oops forgot this, etc. I dug through my archives to see if I should do the same.

The answer was a resounding no. And not because I failed all my goals—but apparently I didn’t make any public resolutions last year. Which kind of explained why I couldn’t remember a single one.

(Except my goal to read 50 books, which I hit after a read-fest the first four days of last week.)

I like that I won’t be starting the new year with the baggage of “oh, I failed at such-and-such.” I love new beginnings—as a child, I actually had toys I never played with because I didn’t want to ruin their pristine state. (Sadly, they were not valuable collectors’ items. We’re talking a rock tumbler and a pottery wheel. Fun, right?)

2011 had some great highs and . . . some nots. I mired myself so badly in edits that I lost all joy in writing, and had to walk away for several months. And soon thereafter, we had a death in my family.

But on the other hand, I had my first book accepted by a publisher! I wrote another book and had so much fun! Hooray!

But I’m ready for a new start. A year without failure and baggage in it yet. A year that’s still mine for the making.

Now to figure out what we’ll make of it.

What do you think? How was your 2011? What do you want to make of 2012?

I didn’t set a ton of goals (or resolutions) last year (they’re on my personal blog, if you’d like to see all of them). In writing, here’s what I wanted to accomplish in 2009:

Write tons a reasonable amount. I’m nearing completion on the first draft of my latest manuscript . . . . I’d like to get through the first draft of two more this year—and finish those accursed, beautiful revisions on last year’s two manuscripts.

I did most of that. I finished the MS in question and drafted two more. I revised and polished that first MS (and I’m getting ready to do it again). I didn’t go back to the first MS of 2007; if I ever do, it will require heavy re-conceptualizing.

I’m not sure, however, that three manuscripts in a year is “a reasonable amount.” I know it depends on how fast you write and how much time you “make” to write (and especially on whether or not you have an idea that sets you on fire)—but when you’re the primary caregiver to your two young children 24/7, that’s a lot. And creatively speaking, it’s a lot, too—at times, enough to burn me out.

And yet the only goals I’ve even begun to consider for the coming year are almost the same—repolish and rerevise the same MS and continue the submission rounds with it, draft two more manuscripts, and polish one of those. (This may be subject to change, of course; I may end up going back to one of the MS from last year to polish first. Who knows?)

Beyond that, I haven’t really thought about goals in most areas. I know I want to work on increasing the tension in the first half of that manuscript and look at the techniques required to do that. I’m also thinking of doing a series on tension, suspense and foreshadowing.

What do you want to accomplish and learn in 2010? Any requests for writing series?

Happy New Year!

It’s a time for making resolutions (for those things that sound good but we won’t really do) or setting goals (for those things that we actually want to do).

So here’s my favorite advice on setting goals. (It’s from me, but I had to get it somewhere at some point, right?) A goal you really want to achieve should be:

Written down
It’s even better to put them in a place where you can find them, see them often, and hopefully be reminded of them often. (Maybe next to those pieces of praise you’re going to tape to your wall .)

Specific
“Get better at writing” is too vague—if you finally learn the less/fewer rule tomorrow, are you done? We all always want to improve our skills, but a better goal would be to pick a specific skill to work on—to study techniques to create more vivid characters, for example. (It’s still a little vague, of course, but this may be the nature of the beast in this area.)

Use numbers or dates where they make sense: the number of words you write or edit, the amount of time you spend writing, the number of queries and submissions you send out.

Measurable
Whether the measurement is quantitative (like time spent) or qualitative (like more vivid characters), make sure it’s something you can see a difference in. This will probably involve reading something you wrote last year and objectively comparing your writing now. (If you can enlist a willing helper, outside opinion can be helpful—unless they give bad advice.)

Also useful here is to set a deadline for your goals: I want to study these skills by March 1, finish a first draft of my next WIP in 30 days, etc.

Personal
Just because someone else is setting a goal to write two hours a day doesn’t mean you have to. Keep in mind where you are in your writing and your life, and set goals that are suited to you.

Achievable
Aim high—but don’t literally aim for the stars (unless you a.) are an astronaut slated for flight or b.) like falling short). Choose something that you can achieve, but something you’ll have to work for.

Also in this area, it’s important to recognize when your goal isn’t completely (or at all) within your control: unless you also run a publishing company, it’s not your choice whether something gets published. So if you set more than one goal, be sure to include at least one goal that you have control over. On the other hand, don’t set more goals than you can handle or remember.

Broken down
I don’t mean literally broken—I mean that your goals, especially your big goals, should be broken down into specific steps. “Write better” is already kind of broken down if you go with more specific things like creating more vivid characters. But even that can be broken down: read such-and-such a book (by Feb 15), take notes; discuss these techniques with/at X; brainstorm application; spend two weeks going through manuscript to apply notes, etc.

So, what are your writing goals for 2009? Feel free to share them in the comments—or, if you’ve blogged them, put the link into the URL box.

Photo credits: Nobel Prize—Tim Ereneta; writing list—Hannah Swithinbank