Doing the Work: Goal Planning Process Step 4

Once I’ve finished the third step in my goal planning process ( Timeline and Tools: Goal Planning Process Step 3), I’m ready for the fourth and final step. The very last step in my goal planning process is to start working toward my goals.

Through this process I have reflected on the previous set of goals I completed, brainstormed what I was going to work on, and decided my timeline and tools for accomplishing my new set of goals. The very last step of the process is the most difficult and should be the most fluid step of the process. Getting up every morning with my goals in mind and what I’m striving for is important. It’s important to know that I’m making progress both in the days I actively work on them and the days I rest or don’t have time to work on them. My mental and physical health have to be front of mind to make those goals happen. One of my best strategies on the days I’m feeling well is to go to my desk to work. Being in the area where my supplies are and being surrounded by the products of my previously accomplished goals is hugely motivating. Depending on the day, having a working session with a writing buddy where we work together online is also incredibly inspiring. I have a writing music playlist that I always listen to when I need to be deep in my writing. I also love a good YouTube video on writing craft or various plotting strategies on days I’m working on plotting or outlining. These, on top of other strategies like keeping an updated word count of chapters and moving post-it notes on my Kanban board, are all incredibly helpful in working toward accomplishing my goals.

Setting goals has been the biggest reason I have accomplished all the things I have over the past few years. With this goal setting process I’ve been able to participate in National Novel Writing Month since 2017, complete eight manuscripts, do numerous revisions on several of those manuscripts, and am actively querying two of my stories. Each of these accomplishments have been vital to my growth as a writer. Every goal setting session that started with those accomplishments listed as nothing more than an ambition and ended with a complete project has been another step on this journey. All of it has made me the writer I am today and I’m excited to see where it leads me next.

In case you haven’t been told today, you are more than enough.

Happy Writing!

A word on this series. Goal planning is a process and this series of blogs is a look at what mine is. It’s a process I’ve created based on countless articles, motivational speeches, goal planning systems (both paper and digital), etc. and advice from writers, authors, friends, motivational speakers, mentors, etc. given or read across all kinds of platforms such as social media, in books, etc. over decades of being a student, writer, human, etc.