2016 Goal Setting Guidelines for Partial-Achievers

For weeks, my inbox has been flooded with the daily offers to help me craft measurable goals for this new year. Many include free webinars or teleseminars, in case I need the prompting of a live teacher-figure to get my keyboard clicking. I didn’t see an offer that shared the 2016 Goal Setting Guidelines for Partial-Achievers, so I decided to write my own.

Let’s be honest: Most of us did achieve something from that exhaustive list of 2015, right? We’ll begin there. Give yourself a pat on the back before digging in.

ONE: Review 2015

Maybe, like me, you publicly published three primary goals, keeping the remaining seventeen in that hidden document on the computer. That made my statistics look a lot better—ahem. I had achieved two-thirds of my goals, rather than the almost one-third when measured against the complete list.

Last year at this time, I wrote I’d launch a new blog in the first days of the new year; by the end of the week, I’d have a Twitter account; and by the end of the month, I’d have launched a new podcast. What an ambitious newbie.

Looking back, I can see that I’d achieved two-thirds of my published goals by the end of the first two weeks of the year. The remaining fifty weeks? Precisely the problem.

I chipped away on each project, checking off a few steps along the way to achievement. Nothing else got done—in case you had worried that you’d missed the launch of the new podcast.

TWO: Condemnation-free reflections

Why didn’t I do better? Did I lack motivation? Did something unexpectedly jump in the middle of my life, derailing my timetable?

Near as I can tell, two famous words from Socrates slammed the nail, dead center on the head: Know thyself.

Profound, right? All these centuries later, the philosopher’s words brought clarity to my problem. I’d used an enthusiastic twenty-something full-steam-ahead mind to plan the year for my mid-sixties slower-moving body. I simply couldn’t keep up with myself.

I couldn’t spend all those hours sitting at the computer every single day, in addition to the time my work duties required.

Not only the body had aged, but my struggling attempts to understand technological issues required a lot more time to complete each step of the various tasks. Living a quarter-century in a country lacking electricity and only recently introducing internet service did affect goal completion efforts.

Okay, the bottom line is that I did do what I could. I choose to feel good about that and not beat myself up over what I didn’t finish. A new year’s here and I can make a new list. Hopefully, one more in line with reality.

I picture my Heavenly father with a smile on His face as I write this page. He’s not scowling or sneering at me. Not at all. He knows me inside and out. I imagine His head is slightly tilted; His smile says, Want Me to help you plan this time?

I believe that the well-known passage found in Jeremiah 29:11 fits into any serious situation I face. I’m not imprisoned in Babylon like the Israelites at the time these words came from the young prophet, but trying to fulfill a call to write can feel that daunting at times. I am encouraged by God’s words.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

On to the next goal-setting guideline. Open a new screen, or grab a blank sheet of paper.

THREE: Realistic planning

While we all know that great oaks came from tiny acorns, they didn’t take one quantum leap from seedling to massive shade provider in a single season. The Creator of the tree planned seasons of growth to reach the final goal.

While I’ve read and listened to many professionals guiding writers through the planning process, I’ve come to accept one important point about myself. I need to be realistic. I need to be humble enough to admit that I need a customized plan for an old lady. An active and busy senior, but one with less get-up-and-go to fuel my writing passion.

With that in mind, I’m rejecting all that professional advice and setting my 2016 goals one quarter at a time. I don’t mean I’ll design four segments that are building on each other to form one entire year. I mean, my goals only include January through March 2016.

IF, I achieve those few goals, then I’ll write my goals for April through June. If I don’t accomplish some goal, I’ll trim it down a bit and add it to the second quarter list. No condemnation, just refining what’s realistic for me.

FOUR: Choose wisely

The current climate is perfect for the new writer with a limited training budget. I can’t keep up with all the free live teaching on the web. I don’t watch television, but I am aware that all that free education consumes time that I could spend on writing and editing. If I’m going to meet my quarterly goals, I’ll need to be more discerning about what events I sign up to attend.

FIVE: Prioritize writing time

While posting weekly to my two blogs is important, accepting other writing challenges will be kept to the bare minimum until the Number One project has been sent off. Until that long-overdue, grinding manuscript editing task has been accomplished, I will keep it as the primary goal. Therefore, editing is scheduled for the lion’s share of my writing time.

Conclusion

It’s my hope that scaling things down to bite-size bits will take me out of the partial-achiever league and turtle-walk me firmly into the winner’s circle. One thing about quarterly goal setting, I’ll know a lot sooner if the new approach is working. No delayed gratification—or correction.

Whatever your goals; whatever strategy you’re trying this year; know that you’re not alone. For those who have accepted the Lordship of Jesus, including allowing Him to guide your planning, you can count on Him.

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (II. Chronicles 16:9a NIV)

Talk about a fantastic accountability partner. God wants us to succeed. That’s an amazing bit of truth, isn’t it?

Feel free to share your experiences with setting goals. What changes are you making this year?