3 Easy Ways to Stay on Track of Your Goals

I was never a goals orientated person. I mean sure I had big dreams, and things I wanted to do in life but they were vague things like 'finish my degree', 'get a job' and 'start looking after my body.' The older I get the more I've realised the value in both setting goals and the work that goes into achieving them. Writing my book has been a huge dream-come-true for me but the process of writing was one that I needed to get serious about.

In 2017 I finished my year of writing having bled, sweated and cried 80,000 words into my novel. Through editing and revising I finished my year with a solid 50,000 words in a tidy but not-yet-finished manuscript. After getting off track last year (my two month break turned into about ten months) I'm back at weekly writing goals for 2019 and am aiming to have a polished 80,000 word draft by the end of the year. Sidenote - my manuscript is very much in it's draft stage so there's a lot of work that needs to be done not only writing another 30k but severely editing what I do have.)

Here are some practical ways I'm trying to stay ontop of my writing goals this year. If you're not a writer don't worry as you can apply them to almost anything!

The tomato timer method :: Committing just one hour during the day to doing a job I'm struggling with was a lifesaving method for me while I was studying. Sitting down for one hour, whether I achieve anything or not, is a far less overwhelming task than say forcing myself to write 1,000 words or applying for 'x' amount of jobs. While the output is about the same (it takes me an hour to write around 1200 words) I often found myself not just writing for one hour but three or four. 

Writing down your wins :: I used to write down a list of things I wanted to achieve each day or week and it was always longer than what I could reasonably achieve. Now instead of feeling disappointment that I only achieve two of my four planned workouts in a week, I celebrate what I did do instead. I also think there's a weird psychological shift in wanting to improve on work I've already done. When I've smashed out two workouts in a week and squeeze in a third it feels like a win as opposed to only completing three out of my four planned sessions.

Tracking your progress :: Because my ultimate goal with my book is to have a 80k word count having what I've achieved each week written down can be really motivating. While I was studying I had a weekly word count of 4k and I would mark each week's achievements on my calendar above my desk. While it can sometimes be despairing to see the week's when I haven't done much I actually found it really motivating to see how much I had already achieved. Looking at your progress as a whole can be very satisfying and I'm planning on taking this tip into 2019 with me.