3 Tips for a Writer to Remember When Making Goals

by Tim Suddeth @TimSuddeth

Let me take this time to wish y’all a healthy, happy, and blessed new year. For many of us, this is the time we look back over the previous year and then make plans for the new year. We look for new opportunities and we look for activities that kept us from reaching last year’s goals. Goal making isn’t a one-and-done activity. (Don’t we wish.) It’s a constant recalibration as we continue on this journey called life. 

A few years ago, I quit making New Year’s resolutions. I discovered so much during the year that I wanted to change, that waiting until the end of the year made it too overwhelming. Now, I make resolutions on a weakly, uh, weekly basis. Every weekend I plan to start Monday with a quick stretching workout, then spend a few morning hours working on my writing.

Then Monday morning comes. I read the paper, watch the news, catch the scores from the weekend, check X, check Facebook, check my emails, walk the dogs, call customer support for something, do laundry. Oh, and slip in some quantity with my beloved. And before I realize it, the evening is here. So, I push back my goals. Again. Same goals, new Monday.

That doesn’t mean making goals is bad. Goals show us changes we want to make in our lives and to keep us on the right track to reach those goals. But just making a goal won’t produce the desired result. We need to plan a way to reach that goal.

I would like to suggest three tips to remember when making our goals.

Three Tips to Remember a Writing is Making Goals

1. Know the difference between a goal and a process.

It’s January 4th. How many of us have already broken our resolutions? That’s often how I felt. I had grand plans, but when I went to implement them, I didn’t have a clue where to begin.

I’ve started reading Atomic Habits by James Clear this week. It’s been out a few years, but for some reason I’ve recently run across it in several different places. I thought I might need to read it. With my record of setting goals and failing, I’d appreciate any help I can get.

Clear explains the difference between a goal and a process. Most of our New Year's resolutions are goal centered—write a book, start a blog, become a better person. Then New Year's Day comes, and we don’t know where to start. Clear writes, “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.”

We might need to have the same goal as before, but what we need is to come up with a new system to reach it. Your goal may be to wash an elephant. (I mean, let’s be honest, who really wants to eat Dumbo? But keeping your elephant clean, now, that’s important.) Your process has been to buy a hose and a brush with a long handle. Instead, it might be better to get a ticket to the carwash.

By focusing on your process and not the goal, your first step will be smaller and easier to do. And we’ve all seen that after you start with one small victory, you’re encouraged to continue.

2. Know how to use habits to your benefit.

Looking back on my list of activities for a Monday, it’s easy to see I have a lot of habits. Some habits I’ve accumulated, I learned to read the paper in the morning watching Daddy. Some of my habits I’ve just fallen into, like scrolling social media. They aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t helping me reach my goals.

I’ll be sixty-four in two months. (I take a size large in gift cards.) One thing I’ve seen is that habits don’t change on their own. They just get more entrenched. My Monday list of to-dos from above shows several old habits, as well as some common distractions. To start a new habit, I may need to get rid of an old one. Move out of my comfy recliner. (As I write this, I’m in my broken-in recliner with my Persian cat purring on my chest.) It’s hard to leave the comforts of the old to face the challenges of the new.

James Clear suggests we don’t have to get rid of some old habits. Instead, we can use them to our benefit. He suggests we add a new habit by habit stacking. This happens when you connect the new desired activity to an old habit. To help with my flexibility (Do any other writers sit too much?), after my quiet time, I’ll lie on the floor and do some stretching exercises. By stacking it onto an activity I already do regularly, it becomes easier to remember.

As for old habits, sometimes to break a bad habit, we only need to look at our environment. If you want to eat healthier, remove the chips, sweets, and candy from the counter and set up a fruit bowl with bananas, grapes, and apples. If you want to write more, leave your laptop out where you will see it. (But not where the cat will lie on it.) Make what you want to do easier. Then stuff the habit you want to quit into the back of the closet.

3. Know that there is something more valuable than your goal.

I think there’s something in everyone’s life that we wish we did better. Becoming frustrated because you aren’t reaching a goal you want, or aren’t being the person you hope to be, doesn’t help anyone. And, as many goals I set and processes I start, there will always be something in my life that I wish I did better. It seems to be part of being a human to not be satisfied.

But we don’t have to give in to never feeling adequate. God says in His word that He has a plan for us (Jer. 29:11, Est 4:14, Rom. 8.28). We can ask Him what He wants us to be and how we should go about that (James 1:5, Phil. 4: 6). I have to admit, this really frustrates me. I want God to shoot down some particular revelation for what I should do. Or send me a manual. But that isn’t how He works. He works through prayer, His word, and His people. He works by guiding us.

Even though our eyes are often focused on the goal, that may not be what’s important. Even more important than reaching your goals is enjoying the journey you’ll be on with Him. Hold tight to His hand. Share your laughs with Him. Look for His fingerprints on your life daily. Then you’ll realize whether you reached the goal that you thought was so important or not, you already have a treasure that is far more valuable. 

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3 Tips for a Writer to Remember When Making Goals from @TimSuddeth on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet) 

Tim Suddeth is a stay-at-home dad and butler for his wonderful, adult son with autism. He has written numerous blogs posts, short stories, and three novels waiting for publication. He is a frequent attendee at writers conferences, including the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and a member of Word Weavers and ACFW. He lives near Greenville, SC where he shares a house with a bossy Shorky and three too-curious Persians. You can find him on Facebook and Twitter, as well as at www.timingreenville.com and www.openingamystery.com.