
How to Crush Your Goals (part 2 of 2)
This article is part 2 in a 2-part series. Click here to read part one on how to create goals for the new year.
On Monday, I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger. Imagine you’ve made a list of goals for 2018. Now, how in the holy Hellmann’s mayonnaise do you actually accomplish those goals?!
An excellent question. But fret no more: I have answers!
Here’s the deal: Goals need to be SMART, but they also need to be DUMB.
They need to be things you actually want to do within the time frame of a year, and things that you can actually, in some universe, accomplish. So the best way to do that is by “chunking.”
Think of the biggest project on your list. Maybe it’s writing a book. Then start breaking that big goal down into smaller and smaller parts. What makes up a book? Chapters! You could decide that you need 12 chapters, and write one each month. What makes up a chapter? Scenes! So you could write 30 (or 28 or 31, depending on the month) scenes each month, to make up those chapters. And what makes up a scene? Beats! So write a few beats each day and eventually you’ll have that book written.
Similarly, you need to break down each of your big goals into these kinds of smaller sub-goals in order to work your way through.
My plan for getting stuff done this year is to create my list of goals, chunk them out, and work on different projects each month. I’ve got a book called Your Best Year 2018 by Lisa Jacobs, which also doubles as a project planner, and it includes weekly goal-setting, monthly check-ins, and annual review pages to help me keep track of everything. I’m currently in the process of setting up my 2018 Game Plan, so I’ve got my writing and business stuff integrated with my personal stuff, and various timelines and milestones all plotted out.
I’m a reformed Pantser, so as you can see, I’ve been swinging hard in the opposite direction towards Planning.
To that end, I’ve got a question for you…
Want to join my Accountability Group?
Changing things up from last year, I’m currently working on putting together a weekly online accountability group, based on working through Your Best Year 2018. Check out the book and let me know if this is something that would interest you by commenting below (with a functioning email, so I can get in touch)!
If that’s not quite your bag, check out my New Year’s Resolutions for Authors post instead, or join the Buttontapper Challenge FB group so you’ll be the first to know about my new year-long writing challenge!

