The Busy Writer's Guide to Goal-Setting for 2022 (in less than 2 hours)

As the end of 2021 approaches, you may be experiencing a mix of relief, anxiety, and excitement. It's over! But OMG, it's really over - and a new year is coming for your sanity.

Do I set goals I'm not sure I can achieve? What's realistic? What's scary? Should I get a degree in journalism? Take a class in Non-Binary Fan Fiction? Track my sleep? Shave my head? Do people still say OMG?

STOP. Step away from the holiday cookies. You do not need another rum ball. You need a plan that is easy to follow yet finessed to fit your unique circumstances.

This is not about word count or writing X hours in a day. It's about listening to your gut, keeping it simple, and consistently applying the number one secret to successful writing days - giving yourself successive mini-wins.

Being the creative genius you are, designing a kickass writing year is doable in less than 2 hours. Grab your pen or keyboard. Start the clock. Don't think; just write.

1. Start with Wins

List a minimum of ten wins you've had in 2021. They don't have to be about your writing life. Lost a couple pounds? It counts. Survived a third lockdown? High five. Realized you can no longer continue working a dead-end job that makes you feel like your soul is being fed to a bottomless pit of despair?

A win is a win.

2. Take Inventory

Say you want to write a book in 2022. It's a great story, you're in love with the characters, and you have a rough outline. You can sit down and pound out a couple hundred words here and there. You'll ride the high of enthusiasm and progress - until something happens, namely LIFE.

How do you make progress without losing momentum? Look at what affects you on a daily basis. These areas of influence are categorized as Body, Mind, Finance, Spirit, Love, Nature, etc. You get the picture.

Getting a grasp on how you use your time and energy will help you delegate fifteen minutes or four hours of writing on a daily basis.

If you have a self-help guru and they're worth their weight in thought nuggets, they will provide an in-depth worksheet. My favorite questionnaires come from motivational coach Lisa Nichols' No Matter What assessment and productivity boss Michael Hyatt.

Don't have time to research another website? Make a list of your areas of influence. Be sure to include what affects you as a writer, namely: Mental, Environment, Health, Love, and Relationship. Rate them on a scale of 1–10. Be honest.

Working a job is distracting, relationship gardens need tending, and your body works best with things like sunlight, nutritious food, and movement. It will take around 10 minutes to assess which areas of your life are solid and which need work.

3. The BIG Goal

You know you can win despite hard times and political unrest. You've identified your strengths and weaknesses. You might even feel a jolt of creativity knocking at the door of your holiday stress ulcer. Congratulations, it's time to talk about pie.

Everyone loves pie. Pumpkin, pecan, peach, apple, pizza, whatever gets the salivary glands flowing. Your Big Goal for 2022 gets to be the most amazing pie you could imagine. Huge but edible. Scary but survivable. And don't forget delicious. Your Big Goal gets to ring your bell like nobody's business.

It also gets to be one sentence.

Take this literally. If you write, "My goal for 2022 is to write the next Gone Girl," but it does not fill you will hunger, fear, and excitement, it's not the goal for you. If you write, "My goal for 2022 is to write a shapeshifter trilogy while training for a marathon where I will meet the love of my life who instinctively knows never to disturb me when I'm in my writing zone and make $100K," it's too much.

Keep it simple. What do you really, really, really want in 2022?

For those still in your head because simplicity is an exercise in extreme complexity, start with your highest priority. Maybe it's making money, having an amazing relationship, or finding your spiritual North. Use the assessment you completed in Step Two. What area of influence is near a 10? Which one scores 2 or 3? Combine the two.

Looking at my assessment, my highest rating was in the Spirit category at a 9 (which was surprising). My lowest was Networking/Business at a measly 3 (not surprising but still startling). It's important for me to connect with the divine message when I write, and sharing it requires that I learn what my target audience wants to hear. I get to provide value while simultaneously nurturing the part of me that swoons when reading or writing a great sentence. So…

My goal for 2022 is to attract 1,000 superfans who will benefit from the work I love producing.

This is a metric I can get behind, not just as a New Years Resolution, but as a year-long mantra.

Now for the real dilemma and where most people fail goal setting: the HOW.

How will I reach my superfans? How will I convince them I'm authentic and get emotionally charged thinking of them winning? How will I continue to learn my craft without sacrificing my voice?

Deep breath in. I don't need to know the HOW. It will show up when I plan my quarterly tasks.

4. Creating Quarters

A lot can and will happen in 90 days. This is a manageable time frame, hence its repetition in productivity plans.

Divide 2022 into four 90-day segments. Then take your Big Goal pie and cut it into actionable steps.

For me, that's providing enough quality content in the form of articles, social media posts, and books I attract 250 fans every 90 days. Doable? Sure. Realistic? Yes. Scary? Heck yeah, but so what? I'll take it one quarter at a time, assessing my platforms, asking for feedback, and sharpening my skills along the way.

*If you're reading this after January 2022, don't wait for a new quarter to plot your Big Goal. Start where you're at and work with pieces that feel manageable.

This is enough for our two-hour time limit, but if you're a writer who obsesses over details, let's keep going.

I have a writer friend who wants to publish three novels, create a stellar website, and market his short stories to relevant magazines. That's a complicated pie. Chances are, he'll make 70%-80% of it happen, not because he wrote down his goals, but because his work ethic gets things done. Will he wreck himself in the process?

Maybe.

My friend knows about the writing industry, reads the craft books, takes classes, and goes to critique groups. He could draft a list of steps he must take to hit his goals and go about his life, but there's a problem with this system. Making a to-do, we rarely take into account the problems and challenges that naturally arise, like travel time, dealing with sickness, or losing a source of income.

When obstacles show up, we get frustrated. We lose momentum. We pout. Sometimes, we don't pick up the pen and get back to writing.

As damage control, try this trick suggested by Atomic Habits author James Clear.

Visualize the failure of your goal.

It's the end of 2022 and you did not hit your goals. Why? What prevented you from succeeding? Reverse-engineer everything you didn't do.

This is an exercise is realistic expectations. It's also an exercise in accountability. Most will not do this task for the simple reason that failure hurts, and they believe, if they focus on the feeling, they'll lose enthusiasm for the goal.

Perhaps a shift in perspective is needed. It's not painful because deep down you believe you will fail. It's painful because your passion lives in the resistance of doing things that scare you. If you face the fear head-on, you will be prepared to switch gears when something goes wrong.

On a personal level, I handwrite my quarterly action plan and keep it where I can see it on my writing desk, but I will not look at my master list until the end of that quarter is complete.

If this freaks you out or you've never chopped a big project into pieces, construct an action plan for two quarters. You'll reassess at the end of 180 days when you've gathered real-time data on what works and what doesn't for your schedule.

5. Fill the Gaps with Self-Care

You might be a writer who is more motivated by punishment than reward. When rejected, you might have a stubborn gene that rears up and says, "Yes, I can. Just watch me." You might be a wallflower, a recluse, or an anger-filled activist.

Regardless of how you approach writing, you must schedule self-care. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. It is the glue that holds your authentic voice to the grueling, somewhat thankless work of being a creator. It is non-negotiable.

What does self-care look like to you? Getting a pedicure? Reading a new book for sheer pleasure? Taking yourself on a date to the movies?

Whatever it is, pick one day out of every week and block 2–4 hours for self-care. If you can take the whole day off, this is ideal, but we're dealing with real life, and establishing the habit is most important. This is your recharge zone. It is more than a reward for good behavior; it's a sacred space in which you honor being a vessel in which story can thrive.

Don't let the ease of this commitment fool you.

For many writers, self-care is a tough pill to swallow. We mistake distraction for relaxation, silence for rejection, and perfectionism for policy. It is work, hard work, forming a stream of consciousness into a cohesive pattern another human will recognize as creative fact or truthful fiction.

Be kind to yourself. Like all relationships, there's nothing better than returning to a project once you've made space to miss it.

6. Time OUT.

If the clock has run out and you didn't finish your Goals for 2022, cool. You've learned more about yourself and your writing habits than you did before you started. You have the rest of 2022 to check-in, assess, re-assess, commit and recommit.

Your subconscious will continue to work on this "problem" until solutions present themselves. You may stumble across a podcast, talk to a friend, or get slapped with an "aha!" moment in the shower - all of which nudge you in the direction of progress. Write them down. Take action. Keep putting one word in front of the other.

The last step is bringing your goal-setting session to a close. As a writer, you should be practicing conclusions, anyway, so let's have fun. Finish these prompts or create ones of your own.

"Knowing what I know now, I am committed to creating__."

"Not knowing what could happen, I'm open to__."

Sign it. Date it. Get on with life.

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As a writer, you may plan for every eventuality, ignore every message from the Muse, and beat the resistance drum like it's your job, but the hard truth is, if you're a writer, you will always be a writer.

So you might as well act like one and set goals.

If you've made it to the end, you deserve another holiday cookie, or better yet, a toast. I raise my symbolic glass of eggnog to you, oh goal-setting whiz, and acknowledge your ability to show up.

What goals did you set? What steps might you share to benefit another creator? How can we act as if we really, really, really hold each other at our highest potential? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

*This article was originally published by the author on Medium.com.