How important are the goals that we set for ourselves? Some goals are important others are trivial. Whatever the goal is it’s up to us to decide its level of importance. It’s always a great feeling when you can look at your list of goals and check one off as completed. But what if you can’t check one off? Do you give up, throw in the towel? Of course not, that is the last thing you want to do.
Did I meet my goal and finish my second draft by my wife’s birthday? I’m happy to report that I didn’t. You might be wondering why I’m happy about not finishing, at first so was I. The answer is simple; I set myself up for failure. Looking back at my goal I realized I only gave myself two weeks to finish half a manuscript. Between work and family it was impossible for me to complete the second draft.
Is it ok to feel bad that a goal was not completed, of course it is. However it is not ok to quit because a goal wasn’t met. Instead we need to review what our goal was and reevaluate the best way to accomplish it. Goal setting is like the story of Goldilocks. We have to find the perfect balance. Sometimes our goals are too ambitious, other times they are lacking importance. It takes time and effort to find that perfect balance.
Take me for example. I don’t want to make the same mistake by setting too short of a timeframe to finish. Likewise I don’t want to make the mistake of giving myself too much time. If I do not give myself enough time to complete my goal I will fail again. If I give myself too much time to complete my second draft I also have a high chance at failing. How can too much time cause me to fail? Think of it like filing your taxes. We can begin filing them at the end of January however many of us wait till April 15th before turning in our forms?
So where does that leave me with finishing my second draft? My new goal is to finish by Halloween. This gives me a little over a month to finish. While giving myself the whole month I intend to finish much sooner. This extra time allows me to go back and do any minor edits before giving the manuscript to my Alpha Readers.
Take this time to review your goals. Are you on track? Do you need to make some modifications to your life to ensure that the goals are completed? Speaking of goals, it’s time I get back to completing mine. If you have a topic you would like me to cover or a question you would like answered send me an email at Axeman@thisweekinwriting.com.
On a side note I am going to post my progress slightly different. Instead of listing pages and word count I will be leaving a percentage of completion.
Novel Progress
Draft: Second
67.29% Complete