Small Goals & Accountability
I wish I could count the amount of times that I have started a project and didn’t get around to finishing it. My harsh reality is that I am a dreamer. I am a dreamer who is finally taking steps to hold myself accountable and execute my dreams.
In my last post, I wrote about my decision to stop working on my bachelor’s degree because of the negative toll it was taking on my mental health. This newfound time and freedom away from school has shined a light on what I want to focus on the most — my writing. I am now allowing much more time in my days to immerse myself in reading and writing, something I yearned for during my time in school.
Having this time has also allowed me to set a large goal for this year regarding my writing, but first I will share my small goals. These small goals are what will keep me on track and hold me accountable to eventually reach my larger goals.
Small Goal #1
+ Write a daily journal entry
Small Goal #2
+ Publish writing piece every Tuesday on Medium
Small Goal #3
+ Read 2–3 new books a month
I cannot stress how important small goals are to have in life. I learned about making small goals through reading and have utilized them ever since. I even wrote about small goals in one of my earlier posts here on Medium.
Setting small, attainable, and realistic goals for ourselves helps us to hold ourselves accountable in the long run. Accountability is key when setting any goal for yourself, and it is much easier to hold yourself accountable to a smaller goal rather than a larger one. For example, publishing my writing once a week is more attainable for me than publishing five times a week. At this moment in time, attempting to publish more than once a week would result in driving myself wild with stress and burning out of my writing game. Writing to me is a pleasure, and I would not want it to become a stressful hassle by overdoing it. Down the road, I would love to publish daily, but the reality is that I am just beginning my publishing journey, and my small goals are what will bring me to that road one day.
My plan is to work on my smaller writing goals for six months before I make way to my larger goal. What exactly is that larger goal?
Writing my own book.
It’s intimidating for me to think about because my own book won’t be one of the short three minute reads you see on here, but instead a hundred or more pages long. Let me be clear though — this larger goal is not to complete my book by the end of the year, but it is to start the process of writing the book. Within these six months I plan to write as much as I can to improve daily and build a stronger writing foundation. They say practice makes perfect, and these six months of reaching my small goals are just another way for me to hold myself accountable and make those larger dreams come to life.
So here’s to the journey ahead!
I can’t wait.
