Writing Goals: Make Them Real

Over the next week or two, let’s talk about your writing goals.

Why talk about goals?

It’s simple: if you have goals, you’ll become a successful writer, with “success” defined in the way you choose.

Your success is a choice. You choose success, because you set goals.

You do have goals, don’t you?

With my writing students, I’ve found that mostly their “goals” are just wishes. A wish is something like “I want to make money writing.” It’s a wish, rather than a goal, because a goal is always specific, and it always has a deadline.

You can turn a goal into a wish very simply: just make your goal specific, and add a timeframe for achievement.

So, if your wish is: “make money writing”, you can transform it into a goal.

You might decide that: “Six months from today, by March 30 2012, I make $500 a day from my writing. I write articles for websites and magazines, and for business clients.”

You’ve just set a goal.

Can you see the difference between that goal and a wish?

As we’ve said, a goal is aways specific, and it always has a timeframe.

Here’s another difference between a wish and a goal.

A wish is something that drifts through your mind. Maybe it gives you a warm glow, and then you drift off into a series of fantasies. You’ve entertained yourself for five minutes. That’s all a wish will give you — fuel for your fantasies.

A goal however, affects your life. It changes you, because a goal has PLANS, lots of plans. And those plans result in ACTION.

More soon.

We’ll also discuss goals in the ezine. (You must subscribe to receive the ezine, the material isn’t archived.)

Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

Do you have goals?

Do you achieve your goals?

What’s your biggest challenge in goal setting and achievement?

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