Moving targets & changing goals
The value of revisiting your goals, celebrating progress, acknowledging failure, changing your targets - and inspiration for and against goal setting.
Last week I had a quarterly check-in with my accountability group. Dubbed the 12-week warriors, this kickass bunch of women all write and run their own businesses. They inspire, support and lift me up in many ways, the simplest of which is to review my goals over the previous three months.
As you might have guessed I LOVE a goal. I set all sorts, from new year resolutions to daily task goals. I also review them regularly, whether it’s ticking off a to-do list, acknowledging my daily wins and what I’m grateful for, to having a weekly planning meeting with Chris or a monthly strategy review.
However, these more regular goals focus on what is urgent, what needs to be done - now - often to pay the mortgage.
Urgent vs long-term goals
One thing I value about my 12-week check-in is the timescale is long enough to review what’s important to me. Preparing for the meeting (being of a perfectionist persuasion) I was surprised how much progress I’d made on the things that really matter to me.
At the moment, that’s writing a novel, a goal which in many ways is in conflict with the pressing matters of running a business. Novel writing happens at the edges of the day. It took me years to make this a priority (the original idea for it came to me in 2009!) so having a group I can check back with helps me keep it front of mind.
Missed targets
Being human, there were several goals I failed to make progress on - some with valid reasons - priorities change, I change, life gets in the way, crises happen. Again, it’s valuable for me to review this and explore why. Telling others holds me accountable when I fall short and my group reminds me to be kind to myself.
Goals are a moving target, but having them helps me figure out what sort of a person I want to be and focusses my time to do the things that contribute to that. If you’re not the sort of person who likes a goal (waves to Chris 👋) then the quotes below might offer alternatives or inspiration.
Keep writing, Bec
Love this quote by writer and comedian Jo Brand. She has just been named The Comedy Women in Print Prize’s 2023 Game Changer. They used this quote in their Instagram announcement.
Accountability matters
Being a nosy sort of person, I love reading acknowledgements to find out what support authors get. While a book might be the work of a single author, there’s usually a crowd of people behind the scenes that made it happen.
When Eric Barker’s first book, Barking Up The Wrong Tree, came out he gave a shout out to ‘The Sedona Illuminati’ a group of writers, many of whom had bestselling books under their belts. One day I’d like to hear the backstory on how James Clear, Ryan Holiday, Tim Urban, Nir Eyal and others became the secret society behind bestseller lists.
I revisit this quote by Gretchen Rubin a lot. Learning how to both accept ourselves while enlarging our sense of possibility is central to goal setting. Understanding what we really want and need, while stretching ourselves without overwhelm and burnout. If you know how - let us know!
Gladstone’s Library revisited
Gladstone’s Library (pictured above) in Hawarden, Wales is my happy place - where I do my best thinking and writing. I spent the night there last week (yes, it’s a residential library with a Harry Potter vibe - I know, heaven).
It was midsummer’s day, the longest day of the year in the UK, so after running an all-day workshop in a wood-panelled room, I crept into the library late that evening. I was the only person there, just me and the bookshelves.
As the sun sunk out of sight, I took time to review the year so far while also acknowledging that I was blessed to be there, at that very moment, happy and relaxed.
A month of goal setting
You might (or might not) know that this month of newsletters has been focussed around goal setting, the fourth chapter of our book Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit that Lasts.
If you missed previous posts, check out:
👉 Writing goals - love them or loathe them?
👉 5 ways to turn your midyear slump into a spark
A few final links
I’m partway through Dr Grace Lordan’s book Think Big: Take Small Steps and Build the Future You Want. It takes a behavioural science approach to setting goals, getting unstuck and achieving them in small steps.
➡️ Being the geeks we are, we also loved this piece on the neurochemicals of productivity and procrastination by PhD researcher Anne-Laure Le Cunff.
➡️ What’s the difference between kindness and niceness? Find out how to break the negative feedback loop that can make us act mean (paywall).
Available at Amazon UK, Amazon US, Guardian Bookstore and Bookshop UK.
I love the idea of an accountability group! It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot quite recently - your posts seem almost psychically in tune sometimes! Thanks for the prompt to do something about it!!
S.F. Italy ... that's me 🤩