Goals to 2019 – and beyond

Goal setting is an important part of my approach to life. I’m not a neat and tidy person. When the Where I Work meme was doing the rounds of social media I purposely posted my messy desk midst the stream of glorious studio spaces and creative nooks. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love one of those. But it’s not who I am.

I need a very defined view of where I’m going and what I’m doing to maintain that essential work life balance and get things done across a number of areas.

It’s all done with Trello.

I’m the person doing ten things at once (no exaggerating) so my desk is more like an archaeology dig with layers of current projects. I’m running my own IT consulting business, working  part-time at the South Coast Writers Centre, handling the admin at Buzz Words, helping out with the  Students Need School Libraries Campaign, being an author, being a mum and juggling assorted virtual assistant tasks for clients. I find everything interesting!

So I need a very defined view of where I’m going and what I’m doing to maintain that essential work life balance and get things across a number of areas. It’s all done with Trello.

Although specific goals change, they fall under the same headings each year.

I divide my goals into six areas

1. What I want to do (personal)
2. What I want to do (writing)
3. What I want to do (tech & social media)
4. What I want to do (craft)
5. What I want to be
6. What I want to have

I try to keep it as simple as possible. No more than 8 goals on each list (because 8 is the screen length and I want to see the entire goal map in one glance). Some goals have definable steps (on the back of the card as a checklist). Some have a due date. All have a category – Important, Mid Important Least Important.

There’s a gamification element, too – it’s rewarding to be able to tick things off as done with rainbow coloured labels and watch the progress meters crawl along when I manage to write something almost every day.

Last year I made progress and achieved lots of things but I didn’t complete many goals. So the year in review had a kind-of hollow feel to it. So this year I’m aiming for more quantifiable, measurable goals – keeping it SMART  – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely

Keeping goals SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely

For example, one of my goals is to Read More Adult Books (10)

• It’s specific – any adult book counts
• It’s measurable – I’m going to read 10 and when I reach my goal, I’ll blog the completed list
• It’s attainable – I have books! I got a pile of adult titles for Christmas.
• It’s relevant – it’ll expand my literature experience and skills
• Timely – I don’t need a deadline for this one

January is over now, so I know this approach is working.. just got to keep it going for 11 months.

Related posts:

The Week That Was #2 The Week That Was #3 The Week that Was #5 How I Found Four-and-a-Quarter More Hours to Write – Every Single Week