What I Want In 2016
I found my thing for 2016. Expand. Create.
Sure, it has taken me a number of months to really get this in my head…but goals are not only restricted to January, people!
I’ve been living small for a number of years. And that makes sense a lot of the time. I’ve been in a lot survival type years. But I don’t want to stay in that mindset.
I thought I had achieved something the other year. Then I realised I hadn’t done anything at all.
The problem is that I have shiny object syndrome. I have no problem thinking of half a dozen things right now that I could do. But should I? Do I really want them?
What outcomes do I really want?
I want to write a book that has been in me for ages. But I feel like there is a lot of research needed and I don’t know if I have the time and mental space for it. Or if I want to create the time and mental space for it! For now, I’m sticking to getting as much of the rough draft done as possible – not by writing it, but by speaking it.
I wanted to get ahead in February with my blogs. I established routines but didn’t get ahead very well. At most, a week. I managed to get about a month ahead with social media scheduling, which is not bad, but it’s also not as useful or valuable to me as being ahead in actual new blog posts. Then of course, something happened and I ended up not getting ahead at all. Still, I kept up, so that’s not bad in itself, it just wasn’t the goal I had really set. I still want to be about three months ahead, just because I feel like while my life has stabilised this year, I don’t have trust in stability, so three months is a goal to make me feel like my blogs can keep running even when if things all fall down around me again.
I want 2016 to be the year that I start to supplement my income more with income from other sources. I need to actually pick which courses and ebooks I’m writing for Bloggers and Bacon and … you know… maybe finish one?
I have a non-bloggy type of business I need to get started on but I’m still trying to pin down some details for it.
How can I achieve them?
I’m not a fan of the traditional SMART goal method, because I find it demotivating and I’m not used to things being stable enough to plan. So for now I’m sticking to my plan of getting ahead in blogs, planning and reading.
I’ve found voice recording to be a good way to get ahead in ‘writing’ drafts so I need to put some money aside for a lot of transcriptions! Then book editing too.
Do you do SMART goals? What alternative ways to do you set goals?
I haver set a few goals this year and so far I have achieved them – JUST. I am normally the type of person who wants it NOW but I decided good things come to those who are patient and thats what I have been – patient. It kills me #teamIBOT
I find patience really, really hard 🙂
I’m not sure voice recordings would work for me. I’d have to write stuff down first which sort of defeats the purpose. I kind of have a goal to rewrite a fiction manuscript I wrote last year. You’d think after 3 months long service I’d have started but nup.
I think the advantage to voice recording is forcing yourself to get it out and stop you editing while writing. Well, that’s the theory I’m working with!
I’m hopeless at setting goals! I am very good at writing loads of blog posts, in my head, that never find their way to the keyboard. Argh!
I know that feeling – when you wish someone could just download your brain and format it in WordPress!
15 minutes every day. Break your goals into mini goals. Per month or per week. It keeps you on track. And I think it is good that you’re checking in again in March. Most people forget after January. I have two children’s books that I want to self publish or pitch to publishers. But right now I am in the frozen do nothing space. So I have submitted all my articles, and April and May are book months. Good luck with your goals. I’ll keep an eye on them too!
Oh how exciting – good luck with the books!
Goals make me want to rebel. I’m not sure why. At the moment I am fighting to just stay above water and I think I’m ok with that.
I can relate a lot to that. Damn stubborn personality types make it hard for ourselves.
I can only dream of being ahead in blogging! But honestly I have no drive to do what that takes so it’s a dream that will never come true.
This year is all about study for me. Everything else is taking a back seat to that.
I seem to have hit a comfortable spot with being a month ahead, so for now I’m going to keep that as my standard. What are you studying? I remember there was some issue with your course being cancelled.