Blogger: Rachel Kent
It’s the middle of September already! Amazing. I think September is a great time to review the goals you set for the year to see if you can still meet them before the end of the year with a little added focus and effort. If you wait too long to look over your set goals, you won’t have enough time–so don’t wait!
I looked at my goals this week and evaluated how I was doing. There was one goal–“to establish a reading rhythm that will allow me to keep up with my submissions”–that I haven’t been doing well on at all. I decided this week that I will be setting aside time each Wednesday to read. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but in my job reading can actually become overwhelming! And it is much worse when the submissions all start to back up. I feel the pressure of having so many people waiting on me. So Wednesday I read and it felt wonderful to move toward catching up. Planning to spend time reading each Wednesday is what I should have been doing all along. Now I just need to stick with it!
Reviewing my goals was beneficial for me! I also saw the areas I’m doing well in and that was an encouragement.
How are you doing on your 2014 goals?
Is there an area you are doing well in?
Is there an area that still needs some work?
Is there something you can do to move toward meeting your goals?
Rachel, I love the idea of a specific day of the week dedicated to a specific purpose. Recently, we talked about the very idea in my writing group. One thing we discussed was setting aside one day of the week to search for magazines that might be interested in articles. I know that at least one of the writers applied the scheduling idea to her writing her WIP. She reported how much she accomplished in just one day. It will certainly multiply with working that one day as each additional week passes.
I have been trying something of a grid system. Each writing task I need to accomplish has its own block on the grid. If I need to do that particular task multiple times in a week, it is assigned that number of blocks. Not everything gets done, but it helps me measure my progress towards my goals. I have heard that 80% is a good target. Hmmm. I still would like to reach 100!
Those statistics make me think that most of us set goals that are way too lofty. I know I do. So the 80% is oddly comforting. I agree that 100% would be ideal, but this is quite encouraging for the end of the week, Carol. Thanks!
It sounds like you have a good system!
Hi, Carol. Thanks for sharing your grid system. A few weeks ago, I developed a Bailiwick System to help with my productivity. I have four “bailiwicks” (spheres): Writing, Freelance Editing, Community (social media and networking), and the all encompassing To-Do List. Each weekday, I focus mainly on one sphere and then the others as I have time. Saturday is for catching up. It’s a flexible system that seems to be working.
Wishing you the best as you work toward that 100%!
Brilliant idea, Rachel! I don’t know how you get it all done.
I jot down weekly goals every Monday. And I track all my writing/plotting/revising time. It really helps!
Guess I’ll be contrarian. I do not track goals. At all.
I know what I want to get done, and the general or specific timeframe, and I’d rather keep working than spend time thinking about where I am.
usually I meet my self-imposed deadlines, and I do meet external ones.
One part of the method is to do the nastiest part of the job first, whether it’s editing or cleaning. It all feels downhill from there, and the goal seems closer.
It works for me because I don’t do downtime unless I have no choice. I would rather keep going until I have to sleep, them get up and back into it. I’ve lost the ability to enjoy relaxation and just ‘hanging out’, if indeed I ever had it.
Anyone else feel this way?
“I’d rather keep working than spend time thinking about where I am.” You remind me of my husband’s days in computer programming, Andrew. At the beginning of a project, he would have to spend sometimes large amounts of time figuring how long the project would take to complete. From a corporate standpoint, I can see some value in that. But from his standpoint, it was a waste of time. He was ready just to get in there and get it done.
Like you, I know what I want to get done. It’s mostly mental, partly because I don’t want to spend the time writing it out and partly because I don’t want another piece of paper floating around. If I wrote out a to-do list, I think number one might be “Find a place to keep to-do list.”
Amen, Meghan … I so understand that. I hear you, Andrew.
I think I get stuck doing the “nastiest” part of the job first all the time and that’s why I don’t get to the reading–which is what I LOVE.
I don’t really consider any part of my job nasty, but I was using your term. 🙂
Rachel Kent,
Have Janet Kobobel get in touch with me on the matter I have just now commented on as soon as possible.
-sidney
Contrarian Andrew,
Reading your passage and that of Ms. Rachel Kent I couldn’t help but find myself looking back. Let’s see, time travel #63. The year is 1883. The Adventures of Pinocchio. A goodly Pinocchio has just finished his work in the office. Ending his day by sending out a rather generic form letter to one of his submission appplicants. The letter ending in: “We want to assure you that we do! We absolutely do! We read and carefully consider all the queries that come to us at this literary agency!” Pinocchio in the form letter has in ‘no manner’ referred to any imformation that has been submitted to him. Pinocchio’s nose grows. We reach forward to September 2014, a goodly since Pinocchio has been sent a similiar form letter to his query(a rather personal query concerning his journey to heaven, how he has seen truth, knows truth, reveals all truth). The letter ends in similiar fashion to the 1883 production. “We want to assure you that we do read and carefully consider all the queries that come to us.” Some 131 years later in no manner is the 100 page query referred to. Now, time traveling Pinnochio has been given all powers of reason and the such. Pinocchio notes to himself that the 2014 query in question had a postal service (7} day window for delivery. Pinocchio also notes that the query reply letter mailed out, was dated and postmarked on the 8th day. Giving the sender less than a morning of single day to indeed read & carefully consider a one hundred page query. Not one page, one hundred pages that also consisted of questions asking for advice, direction, moral issues and the like. All this to a supposed Christian based agency. We have just read a testament by our dear blog friend Rachel Kent clearly signaling her delinquence in getting to, let alone reading submissions. Does time traveler Pinocchio now in the year 2014 the month of September have any reason to in any significant manner trust and believe that agent Janet Kobobel Grant actually read through and carefully considered in any sufficient manner Pinocchio’s query? A query that was addressed and headed: c/o Rachelle Gardner? A Rachelle that preside’s in Monument, Colorado? So, Ms. Janet Kobobel Grant is now intercepting personal mail? Answering it? Need there be a federal postal inquiry? I’m looking into it. I can assure you!!! On with the story, Pinocchio became Pinocchio in the adventures of Pinocchio(1883) because his spirit recognized and convicted his nose to abounding lengths. Can I submit that Pinocchio with his all knowing reason and powers may well establish truth forward. Pinocchio’s cry of gratitude heretofore to be poured upon Rachel Kent for truthfully submitting here on this blog the working of her agency. Rachel Kent, she fails and she makes a proposal to do better. In similiar fashion, might we in all good-minded reason identify that Janet Kobobel Grant has some “splain ‘n ” to do to Pinocchio. How’s that nose looking today Ms. Grant? I want answers and I want them immediatly.
NOW, Ms. Janet Kobobel Grant; know this. I will be in the days ahead contacting the Post Master General’s Office with my complaint that:
MAIL(PERSONAL MAIL) I SPECIFICAllY IDENTIFIED AND DIRECTED AT, AS C/O, To Ms. Rachelle Gardner WAS ILLEGALLY INTERCEPTED AND REPLIED UPON BY SOME ONE OTHER THAN Ms. Rachelle Gardner. WHO SENT THIS FORM LETTER TO ME? WHOM IS RESPONSIBLE? I WILL FIND OUT BY ONE MEANS OR ANOTHER, Ms. Grant.
-sidney ross
I’m plodding along with my goals, and although I won’t say what they are, one is coming along nicely.
How’s that for annoyingly vague?
There were a lot of mine that I didn’t want to share, too.
Yeah, goals…..I’m way behind, but I readjusted so that I can meet some of them by the end of the year. Achieving them requires me to make some changes in my daily routine. It’s become all about using the time I have available in the best ways possible. 🙂
That’s what I’m working on — using time in the best ways possible!
I can’t imagine how an agent gets everything done. The workload sounds incredible…My writing plans took unexpected turns this year. I’m having a great time with the projects I’m working on, but my novel-writing goals were left way behind. Just this week, I started dedicating a few minutes every day to my WIP. At this point, a tiny bit of progress is better than nothing!
It is hard to keep up with anything with young children. But they are worth it! 🙂
I’m not too good at setting goals or evaluating them. It seems I have so many deadlines constantly, that personal goals are set aside to meet deadlines. And I find that if I’m not intentional, I’ll be so focused on the deadlines that I miss the details of life. Did I stop to hug my daughter? Did I stop to smell the roses? Or did the grasshoppers eat them all before I took the time. Yeah, that happened.
My husband used to tease me … he’d quiz me about the items on my t-shirt. What is the dog holding in his hand? I don’t know. I just threw it on. 🙂
I feel flooded with deadlines right now. I keep reminding myself not to forget I have tickets to a high school football game tonight! But on the up side … we did get my old computer moved off my desk … and I’m now working back in the DUSTED office! 🙂 That was a goal met.
Dusting! Woo-hoo, Shelli! Not sure that even makes it on my to-do list. 🙂
I hear you! I still wish my house would clean and dust itself.
Have a great time at the football game!
In my mind, there is a difference between my goals and my to-do list. Finishing a chapter of my WIP is a goal; my to-do list might include “rework that problem paragraph,” along with things like “clean the bathroom” and “buy laundry detergent.” Hopefully, my to-do list moves me toward my goals, which include maintaining my home and marriage along with progressing on my book.
I have a timeline for my goals, but God frequently tweaks the timing. Brings to mind Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)- “Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.” God’s definition of success is right, but often not exactly what I envisioned.
Left to my own schedule, I could write forever and ignore what’s going on around me. God often intervenes with a “Heads up, kiddo. Here’s my plan for this moment.”
I love Proverbs 16:3, Shirlee! It’s our Acteens’ motto at church.
Great verse for the day! Thanks!
Oh, this post hits home like a sledgehammer! 😉
I want to share an insight from the book “Running on Empty” by Jill Briscoe.
In her chapter on “Busyness”, she talks about Mary and Martha. In Luke 10:42, Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better.” He was talking about prioritizing our priorities!
Then Jill comes up with this pearl of wisdom:
“Martha needed to learn the art of leaving things undone.”
She continues: There are many things we should do, but there is one thing we must do…meet with Jesus and spend time with Him.
Then our busyness will be Christ-directed, Christ-honoring, and Christ-empowered. We will be running, but never on empty!
Have a wonderful, busy weekend, everyone!
Perfect! Thank you for sharing, Kathy!
I’ve always wanted to do Nanowrimo. At least my own version of it. But by the time November comes along, I’m in the middle of something else and haven’t plotted anything else out and don’t. This spring my sister dared me to write a novella in a month and we did it. So this year my sister-in-law and I are writing another novella in Sept. as a warm-up. Then well set them aside (they will be really bad and need revising) and spending Oct. plotting. Then come November we are actually going to try to write a mystery in that month. So, I’m actually closer to achieving that goal then I ever have been.
Yay! I hope it works out for you to participate this year.
Since I’m naturally a procrastinator, my goal chart is a vital part of my life. It helps me break down the big goal (finish novel by August 1) into smaller goals (write 8 chapters this month, two this week). When I fall behind, I see the ripple effects close to the deadline. That happened this year, and I had to set firm priorities this summer. As a result, the book was finished on time, but I’m way behind on writing book reviews on my blog.
And it’s a good book, too! I’m so lucky to get to read them ahead of time.
Great reminder to revisit my annual goals, Rachel. I could be doing better but I’m fairly pleased with where I’m at considering how crazy May and June were for my family.
My writing is finally getting back in gear and I’m happy about that but I’m really working on some personal goals related to my relationships with God, my wife and my children. Lots of prayer and diligence is required for all these efforts and I’m looking forward to how 2014 ends.
My big goal was to officially launch a beta version of my site by Oct. 1st (my birthday, I picked then because I’m terrible with dates) and invite more people to join the email list and forum because I want to include ideas from readers in my work as “Easter eggs” that those in the know can find.
And now all of a sudden it’s September! O.O
I’m not as far behind on that as level of panic I’m experiencing would suggest, at least… But I’m thinking that your post may be just the coincidence to tell me that I need to get off the internet and create a bit more so readers will have something to get excited about 😉
You can do it!!! 🙂
For me, balance is key. When I work hours straight on a manuscript my back and shoulder muscles tense up and my legs hurt. A good day is when I break everything down into smaller goals—devotions, exercise, writing, chores—then things seem to get done. If only I could be disciplined everyday! I tend to procrastinate more on the long-range goals. There’s always tomorrow, right? Add teenagers in the mix and so much for my agenda! I need to remind myself that God is the one in charge. I pray my eyes are open to what He brings my way. Thanks for the encouragement, Rachel.
Rachel, I’ve got my goals posted over my desk, and I’ve done okay on some of them.
I think one thing that would help me is if I had a day with no internet. But then I start to panic over how behind I’d be on emails. I may take baby steps and skip Facebook for one day a week.
Thanks for sharing. Take care!
Ah! This was just the motivation I needed to sit down and review my goals. I’ve done pretty well this year reviewing them, but I do have a hard time looking over them because inevitably, I won’t have met a good number of them. And that’s SO discouraging! But reviewing does keep me focused and moving forward.
Thanks for this!
I like to think a winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, uses these skills to accomplish his goals and likes Greek Yogurt.
Thanks for tackling my favorite subject, Rachel. I’m huge on goal setting, and review mine quarterly. My latest writing world update on my blog found that I’ve done well with a three of them, am making progress with another, and had to drop one now that I am back to working outside the home.
I’m still optimistic. I should have a book coming out next year and I received a contract for my fourth book in March, so I’m moving forward…even if progress is slower than I planned.
I juggle so many things – I sometimes feel frustrated when things I love get pushed to the back burner (like editing my WIP, writing blogs, etc) because of other responsibilities. Sometimes when I feel my wheels spinning, I segment my time and limit myself to a fixed time to work on a particular project (e.g. 2 hours to work on my email parser, then I have to spend an hour on my clinical notes – and I set a timer to keep myself on track). I’ve set goals around different things (writing, my practice, etc.), but I am somewhat flexible with them because I know there are things I can’t control and I have too much of a workaholic tendency (I’d work myself to exhaustion). Besides, since my day job is a therapist specializing in accumulated stress – I have to be a good role model and not stress myself out to extremes 🙂
Thanks for your post. I’ve been in transition for most of the year, from one house to another. It’s been hard to maintain any sort of a rhythm to daily life, let alone writing. As a result most of my goals for this year will likely end up being repeated as next year’s goals.