s-M-art Goals

(Good morning and welcome to the M of SMART goals.)

M stands for measurable, meaningful and motivational.

"If you can't measure it--you can't manage it."

In order to measure a goal you need to know if what you set out to accomplish is obtainable, as well as how far away the completion is. Otherwise, how will you know when the goal has been achieved?

One of the pitfalls of goal setting is making your goal too vague. For instance, your goal states 'I want to finish the damn book'. Sounds overwhelming doesn't it? When is the book considered finished? How will you see the changes that occur, the progress you make on a FTDB challenge?

Establish concrete criteria to measure your progress. How about something like... 'I will write X words a day (sense a theme here?) to complete a chapter each week to take to critique.' You can measure this easily by the words you write. This is a meaningful goal--you're working on your career. Motivational? Of course. When you measure your progress, it's easier to stay on track to reach your target completions. And, don't you feel good when you review your goal and see you wrote that weekly chapter? That excitement and exhilaration can and will carry you forward into the next week. And the one beyond that. 

(To infinity and beyond!--not to put too fine a point on it! Couldn't resist making a couple of movie references. Guess which movies.)

Before you know it, you've reached your major goal!

How cool is that? 

S-mart Goals

(The first post spelling out SMART. The question of the day for writer friends is this--did you have a goal to complete a book in 2011? I know that's taking us back a few years, but surely you remember. Was it a SMART goal? Did you meet that goal? Here we go... the letter S.)

The S of SMART goals stands for specific, significant, stretching.

Your specific goals should be well-defined, straight forward and emphasize what you want to accomplish. It's where you want to focus your efforts.

Specific is the What, Why, and How of your goal.

What: easy--what are you going to do? Use action words. Hmm, that's rather like showing rather than telling, isn't it?
Why: why is this goal important to you?
How:  how are you going to accomplish the goal. Here is where you really need to be specific by giving a time frame. Having a 'finish by' date helps further along in the SMART goal process, so you might as well be ready for it.

As an example--instead of making your goal to finish a book in 2011 (which only really generally gives a hint of what you want to do and by when...) a SMART goal might say something like : I will write X number of words a day (Hey! That sounds familiar!) to complete name of manuscript by this date.

Significant? That's pretty simple, too. If your goal wasn't significant to you, you probably wouldn't be thinking about it.

Stretching? Don't make your goal too easy. If you normally write, oh, say, 100 words a day--stretch to 150 words a day. Stretching isn't always easy (in either the mental or physical sense). Maybe you'll be a little sore, but the end results will be well worth the stretch.

So have a good stretch and start thinking seriously about your SMART goals.

(Oh, and today---Happy New Year 2015!)

Are Your Goals SMART?

(Day three of goals revisited. SMART goals are what can turn a To Do list into concrete, achievable goals! How smart is that?)

Go to your favorite search engine.

Type in something like goals, or goal setting, or goals worksheet.

Become overwhelmed by the number of sites devoted to goals.

How do you know which is best? What works? Should I pay for that book/download/podcast? Why even bother?

I'm not going to answer any of those questions for anyone but myself. Nor should I even try. Like our goals are individual, so are our ways of decision making, creating, listing and sharing.  And sometimes it takes a few trial and error moments to find what works.

There are, however, some constants in good goal setting. One of the best ways is to make your goals SMART goals. Here are some of the meanings for the acronyms.

S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

I think, perhaps I'll talk about these further in the next few days. That sounds like a good way to finish up some of these last 100 days posts.

(Wow...I looked back and I really did do a post a day for 100 days. I really like 100 day challenges. I'll have to give myself -- and others -- some in 2015. What can you do in/for 100 days?)

Focusing on Goals and...Oooh, Shiny!

(Day two of past posts on goals. From the first sentence you can see how long ago I first wrote this. Time doesn't change the impact of these words. I am SO guilty of making long lists of goals. And even longer lists of how to achieve these goals. So, my first small goal for 2015 is to follow the advice I wrote about all those years ago. What about you? Will you join me?)

I was asked last night what my writing goals for 2011 are. My honest answer--I haven't really thought that much about them yet. I need to do the review work I talked about here a few days ago. (Yesterday's post is here.)

One thing I do know...it's really easy to make this long list of goals, both professional and personal. But then, when you look at that list, it can be oh so daunting. Scary. Overwhelming. OMG, I can't do all this.

Take a long, serious time of consideration when you look at your goals for the coming year. It's fine to have a detailed list, but how do you focus on the whole thing!

You can't. Goal ADD doesn't work. Skipping from one to another because the new goal is so much more--interesting? Easy to accomplish?--doesn't work. Choose two or three goals--no more! Put your focus, your full attention on these objectives until you've completed them. Look at them every day. Even better, write them down every day. There is something in the act of writing something down that makes it real. Seriously considered these goals--every day. Every day!

Taking the simple action of consistently focusing on just a couple goals will inspire you to success!

So. Make your list of goals. Choose the two most important. And Focus!

(A few years ago I wrote a number of short posts on goals for another blog. Now that it's time to focus on goals for 2015, I thought I'd repost these blogs...as a reminder to myself! And anyone else who needs a kick in the goals pants. So...have you worked on your goals yet?)

The end of this year approaches, and of course, that means a new year beginning. And for those who set goals (and that should be everyone!) the new year means new goals written in the back of our desk calendars. Or on a sheet tacked to the bulletin board. Or in a document on your computer. As long as they're written down somewhere you can look at them and be reminded.

Now is a really good time to review your 2014 goals. Seriously consider those goals, the actions you took to achieve them and how they compare to what you envisioned as the result. Look at each goal separately. What did you do well? What could have been done better?

Most importantly, consider what prevented you from accomplishing an incomplete goal. Is there a price you weren't willing to pay or changes you weren't willing to consider to make the goal happen?

Are your goals still important to you? We are constantly and continually changing beings. What we want, or think we want, changes along with us. Do you continue to put a goal on your list because you think you should--or is it something you really want?

Use these last days of December to reflect on this year's goals. Then when you turn your calendar to the first of January, you'll be better able to achieve your new goals.

It's Not a Christmas Song

You know how there are minor, insignificant things in the world that irritate the heck out of you--for no reason. Well, that's how I feel about the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. No, I don't dislike the song at all (that's reserved for "Frosty the Snowman"). It's just despite the number of versions and times it's played over the holidays, the song IS NOT a Christmas song. I don't care if the lyrics mention warm woolen mittens and packages tied up with string. Not a Christmas song in my world.

Okay, enough crankiness. So, what brought on this tiny rant from a inch high soapbox? Addictive Reads is having a holiday event. And during the event some of our authors are talking about our some of our favorite holiday things. Here are some of mine...

Holiday music. Like this. Now, this is Christmas music!


I love giving gifts--getting them, not so much.
Hallmark movies. Yep, I'll even watch them in July.
Watching the kids at school practice their Christmas program. I try to catch the dress rehearsal, since there's limited room during the performance.
Ooh shiny trees and decorations when someone else puts them up.
Fudge. Enough said.
Gatherings with friends and family.

There's more, many more favorite things about the Holidays, but we're only supposed to list a few. Do follow the links below to discover more favorites from Addictive Reads Authors. And here's the scoop on our event and giveaways.

Happy Holidays!

From December 12-31, 2014, we’re hosting a giveaway where you have the chance to win a Kindle Fire HD 7 pre-loaded with over 30 of our novels, novellas, and short stories (an approx. retail value of $239). Click on the side banner for more information!

We’re also offering up $50, $20, and $15 gift cards as prizes. The winners will be able to choose to receive their gift cards from Amazon, iTunes, B&N, or Google Play. (Note: Winners for the gift cards will be selected from world wide entries. Unfortunately due to the cost of shipping overseas, the grand prize will be limited to U.S. entries only.)

Our authors have each posted about A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS on their individual blogs. We hope you’ll join us there and tell us about your favorite part of the holidays. You just might find even more prizes up for grabs at some of those sites! Follow the Links below.

And if you have a minute, leave a comment about some of your favorite things for this holiday season!

Doxies for 2015!

Every year I receive a dachshund calendar for my birthday from my brother. Today is that day! 

calendar is from brown trout

I use this calendar as part of my writing routine--recording words written, deadlines, events relating to books and writing, notes for current and future works, books I've read, oh, all kinds of stuff. In the past I've given myself stickers for celebrations--and I think that would be a grand thing to begin again this year.  Bonus for this year--the pages aren't coated and shiny, which should make it much easier to write in without smearing. I hate smeary writing...sometimes it's difficult enough to read what I've written without any extra blurring. And...it's a 16 month calendar that I can start using right now!

Okay, so for the rest of the year I'll have two doxie calendars on my desk. I can't miss any of the great photographs. Below is one that caught my eye as I thumbed through the new planner. So cuuuute! And look--there's lots of spaces for notes for each week as well.

So, how about you? Do you use a calendar or desk planner? Do you look for something different each year, or are you like me and stick with what works for you? (I've tried other calendars that I've loved to look at, but for using consistently to keep my writing more or less on track? It's got to be the dachshunds!)