Reevaluating Goals

We’re one month into 2022, so, naturally, it’s about that time when you realize the grand plans you had for the year have already been derailed, and you’re already behind on your writing goals.

Sound familiar?

Goal setting is one of the more challenging things to establish as a writer, mainly because, unless you’re on contract, no one is waiting for you to write this book. While friends and family may inquire about “how the novel’s going,” writers are usually the only ones wondering when they’ll get through the current draft. Goal setting techniques that work in corporate or business environments hold little weight in a world where everything seems more urgent than writing.

So how do you set goals you can stick with? How do you stick to a goal when all this *gestures around vaguely* keeps pushing writing further down the list?

When I work with coaching clients, I always leave time to talk about goals in our meetings. We are constantly reevaluating the goals that were set, why they weren’t met, and making adjustments. Rigid goals for writers often end up being forgotten or abandoned goals, so it’s essential to consider all of the elements of your life and make flexible goals to accommodate the varying space writing takes up in that life.

Start by evaluating the goal. Is it too rigid? Is it something that sounds good in theory but never actually works out? For example, I used to try to write at night, but I would find myself spending longer working through a section than I did if I wrote earlier in the day, and I would often fall asleep at my desk, fingers still on the keyboard. After the sun goes down, I’m pretty useless as a writer, so I stopped trying to force that time to work and searched for a different solution.

Or maybe the goal is too ambitious (it often is), and you’re getting discouraged by not meeting the goal. If this sounds familiar, try setting your goal based on what you think you could get accomplished if everything in your life went according to plan, and then cut that in half. Make that your starting place. So, for example, if you want to write every morning for an hour, Monday through Friday, set the goal of writing three days a week for thirty minutes. The extra benefit of this type of goal setting is that it feels pretty great if you’re able to do more, and that can be motivating in and of itself. If you realize that your goal is too ambitious, don’t forget to adjust the longer-term goal related to completing the project. While it may be a bit discouraging at first to push back your end date, in the long run, you’re more likely to meet that larger goal if the smaller goals are realistic to your life.

If you find that the goal itself is not the problem, try making a list of the things that often get in the way of your writing time. Maybe you always hope to write in the morning, but you find you’re often too tired. Or you write on your lunch break, but your boss keeps scheduling meetings during that set hour. Or maybe you think you’ll get a ton of writing done while your kid is at practice, but the other parents/caregivers keep striking up conversations with you. Whatever it is, write out those distractions/interruptions/blocks in detail. Next, evaluate what is in your control to manage. Maybe you need to have a conversation with your boss about needing that lunchtime cleared and coming up with an agreement that protects that time. Or, if the only time you have to write is at night, but you’re spent from the day and lack motivation, try adjusting what you’re doing around that writing time, like setting up a ritual that guides your brain out of your day and into your story.

Finally, if the goal doesn’t seem to be the problem and there are healthy boundaries in place around that writing time, consider if there’s something about the project that’s standing in your way. Are you trying to write a mystery but have no clue how to do that? Or are you dealing with a heavier topic in your writing that feels too painful to delve into? If you find that the project is the problem, consider what you need in order to feel confident enough to tackle the work. Maybe it’s a call with a writer friend who can remind you that you’re a badass. Perhaps it’s stepping away from the writing to do research (which you can still count as writing!) or reading a bit before writing as a way of getting inspired. Or maybe it’s setting the project aside for the moment to give you a chance to refill your creative well.

No matter the reason, don’t give up on your goals just yet! Take a step back and reevaluate (and do this often) until you find the right groove for you and your writing.

Denise Santomauro is an author, editor, coach, and teaching artist. She has the cutest smol dog you’ve ever seen, who she’s convinced is a cat in a dog’s body. You can find more about her and the services she offers here.