Savannah Watson

Anyone will tell you that setting goals is incredibly important to success (in many, if not all, areas of life). So, it’s only logical to say that this works for writing as well.

It’s great to set writing goals like how many words you want to write in one day, when you want draft one, two, or ten done by, when you want to submit a manuscript to an agent, or how you want to publish your work. These kinds of goals help to keep us motivated and help us keep sight of our priorities.

However, sometimes our goals become less like goals and more like happiness markers. Using goals as a measurement of happiness is seeking extrinsic rewards and motivation, which are less effective goals.

If you don’t know what I mean by ‘happiness marker’, consider if you have ever said or heard these:

1. As soon as I traditionally publish my first novel, I’ll be a real author.
2. I have to be on a bestseller list by the time I’m ____ years old to be a success.
3. I’ll be happy when…

These are all examples of goals that we base our happiness on, and these types of goals only get us so far. One of the biggest reasons for that is

NEWS FLASH:

life doesn’t always go the way we want or expect it to. If we base our happiness on the goals we have set for ourselves, when life inevitably goes in a different direction, we will be unhappy with the results rather than seeing the benefits that may exist.

We have to be careful when setting writing – or any – goals that we phrase them in a beneficial way. Goals should be achievable (realistic goals, people!), and they should be flexible (if you don’t reach your goals in the timing or way you originally planned, it’s okay to tweak the goal).

Basing happiness on our goals is a surefire way to be unhappy. We should absolutely celebrate achieving our goals, but they should not be the end all, be all. Celebrate the baby steps you take to get to your writing goals, then celebrate when you reach your goals. And if you don’t reach your goals, or reach them in the way you intended, don’t call yourself a failure. You still gained something out of the process!

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