Apologies to Tolkien.
For the last fourteen months I’ve been practicing a new form of goal setting:
- Have only one goal at a time, that closely aligns with life purpose.
- Set an “evaluation date” for the goal (a deadline, more or less).
- Set up a reward for completing the goal, and a “kick-in-the-butt” motivator if needed.
My most recent goal was to finish the first draft of my sci-fi novel. I didn’t finish by my evaluation date (June 30th) which led to a kick-in-butt motivator of no alcohol until the draft was complete. (I did finally finish. Kia read it in two days; at least for one person the book is a page turner.)
I’ve refined the one-goal system considerably since I’ve started, so I thought it might be a good time to share my mistakes, missteps, and adjustments along the way (including how my goal-setting led to a mid-life crisis).