Goals by Lani Longshore

Almost every piece of writing advice I’ve seen lately encourages setting goals to promote productivity. The idea is if you write your goals down on a list, you are more likely to achieve them. I am living proof that writing down goals is not enough. I have a weekly to-do list that I augment with notes about projects and deadlines. The items on my to-do list sometimes get kicked from day to day until the week runs out, and the notes get lost.

You might be thinking that I only write tasks on my to-do list, not real goals. That’s only partly true. Some productivity experts encourage breaking goals into tasks so you create a path to success. I’ve tried it, but sometimes “success” is what I declare it to be.

Another tool for attaining goals is accountability. I thought I had accountability since I belong to two critique groups, but perhaps I need more. Perhaps I need to put my goals out for the world to see.

So here are my goals for June, the middle point of the year and the time for a general assessment of progress. I will be more disciplined about establishing writing goals and more diligent about working on the goals I set for myself. That’s it, just two goals that can be boiled down to two words, discipline and diligence. We’ll see what happens by the end of the year. Oh, and if our paths happen to cross, ask me how I’m coming along with meeting my goals. I can use the push.