Make Your Writing Goals SMARTer This Year

With a new year comes new energy, excitement, expectations, and goals. Maybe this is the year that you’re finally going to get that novel finished, or get your company’s blog up and running with regular posts. The start of another year can bring the fresh perspective that will propel you to success!

But not all New Year aspirations are created equal. How many of us have developed massive aspirational visions in January, only to abandon ship by the end of the month? I’ve been there, and my writing, not to mention other goals, has suffered from making New Year’s Resolutions I couldn’t meet. It’s not all bad news, though. Once I discovered SMART goals, I learned to develop writing and other personal goals that I met, time after time. Thanks to SMART goals, I wrote a book, consistently meet my writing deadlines, and regularly maintain my blog.

Here’s what SMART goals are, and how to use them to make business or personal writing goals this year that you’ll achieve!

SMART is actually an acronym standing for the following words:

Specific
Measurable
Assignable
Realistic
Time-sensitive

Let’s break down the five components of SMART goals, and how to make writing goals using each one.

Specific

To be effective, goals need to focus on an objective that’s easy to define. If goals aren’t distinctive and identifiable, they simply become wishes. Desiring that we’ll be happier or more productive or better writers is akin to the sliver of hope that a child feels when she wishes on a star. To turn a desire into an actual goal, it needs to be concrete.

Are you hoping to write more this year? Just saying you want to write more isn’t a goal that’s effectively specific. Instead, make a goal to complete that short story collection…

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