The Importance of Being Accountable
If you're going to succeed as a writer (by the way - that's a post for another day, but in a nutshell, YOU determine your personal bar for success), you have to be accountable to someone. You have to set goals, then take steps to reach those goals. And, just my humble opinion, but I think goals should be plural. Don't set one lofty goal like "write a best selling novel". That's just setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. It's out of your hands. The ability to meet your goal should be something under your control - no one else's (see where the accountability is coming into play?).
So, write down 5 goals for 2010.
Mine are:
1. Continue working with my critique group.
2. Continue querying agents about Widow's Web.
3. Pick a new novel to polish (decisions, decisions . . . so many manuscripts sitting in the drawer).
4. Edit that novel every week.
5. Read two books a month and review them on Amazon.
See how that works? No overly lofty goals. They're all within reach, but they will definitely cause me to stretch (not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do). The next step is to take those big goals and break them up into workable bits. For instance, I need to block out time this evening and tomorrow evening to prepare for my critique group meeting on Saturday morning. That means there will be little time for anything else, so I will probably have to do more agent research on Saturday so that I can send out another query to an agent this weekend. Little bits - things you can actually schedule into your day.
Here's where the accountability really comes into play. Those goals that I had you write down? Print out two copies of them. Post one on your closet door (or the back of your bathroom door, or on the mirror - someplace you'll see it every day) and give the other to a trusted friend. Think of this person as your accountability partner. Your friend's job is to hold onto the list, then talk to you about your progress quarterly. So, plan to talk to that person in March, June, September and December. Put it on your calendar. Tell that person to be tough on you. This does two things - it makes you accountable to yourself, because you will see your list every day and it makes you accountable to someone else. This improves your chances of success, because this way it is much harder to ignore your goals if you are accountable to someone than if you merely paused for a few moments in January and said to yourself, "Self, this year we're gonna do X, Y & Z!" (resolutions quickly fall to the wayside . . . ask anyone who works the reception desk at a fitness facility).
If you don't have someone who can be your accountability partner, email me and I'll do it.
What are you waiting for? Go write your goals down!!
So, write down 5 goals for 2010.
Mine are:
1. Continue working with my critique group.
2. Continue querying agents about Widow's Web.
3. Pick a new novel to polish (decisions, decisions . . . so many manuscripts sitting in the drawer).
4. Edit that novel every week.
5. Read two books a month and review them on Amazon.
See how that works? No overly lofty goals. They're all within reach, but they will definitely cause me to stretch (not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do). The next step is to take those big goals and break them up into workable bits. For instance, I need to block out time this evening and tomorrow evening to prepare for my critique group meeting on Saturday morning. That means there will be little time for anything else, so I will probably have to do more agent research on Saturday so that I can send out another query to an agent this weekend. Little bits - things you can actually schedule into your day.
Here's where the accountability really comes into play. Those goals that I had you write down? Print out two copies of them. Post one on your closet door (or the back of your bathroom door, or on the mirror - someplace you'll see it every day) and give the other to a trusted friend. Think of this person as your accountability partner. Your friend's job is to hold onto the list, then talk to you about your progress quarterly. So, plan to talk to that person in March, June, September and December. Put it on your calendar. Tell that person to be tough on you. This does two things - it makes you accountable to yourself, because you will see your list every day and it makes you accountable to someone else. This improves your chances of success, because this way it is much harder to ignore your goals if you are accountable to someone than if you merely paused for a few moments in January and said to yourself, "Self, this year we're gonna do X, Y & Z!" (resolutions quickly fall to the wayside . . . ask anyone who works the reception desk at a fitness facility).
If you don't have someone who can be your accountability partner, email me and I'll do it.
What are you waiting for? Go write your goals down!!
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