New Year – Same Old Me – Only Better

Hello 2021! Let’s make some diabolical plans, shall we?

Actually scratch that. I set my goals for 2021 in December of 2020. Like most people who make New Year’s Resolutions, in my previous life, I set unrealistic, unachievable, and immeasurable goals, and then judged myself harshly for failing to accomplish the impossible.

My resolutions were usually something along the lines of “This year, I’m going to be THE BEST ME EVER.” Which meant the skinniest me, healthiest me, most athletic me, funniest me, happiest me, prettiest me, most creative me, most successful me, the friendliest me, the…well you get the idea. Wanting to be THE BEST ME EVER was setting myself up for failure. I had a vague and lofty goal with no plan for how I was meant to achieve it. Worse, I was also telling the old me she wasn’t good enough.

Well guess what, I decided the old me IS good enough, and that alone has freed me up to lay out a set of achievable goals for 2021.

What spurred this change of view?

Glad you asked. I mentioned previously, I joined a writing group in September of 2020 and through participating in some challenges and connecting with other authors, I garnered some new insight about myself and learned some valuable lessons.

The first big decision I made for 2021 happened in early October 2020. Say what? YEP. I decided I would self-publish the first book in my romantic suspense series before December 31, 2021.

Woohoo! I’m fulfilling my dream of being a published author! Not only did I decide to publish book one, but I committed to writing and publishing books two and three in 2022. Now you may be thinking 2022 is way far off, but is it? Is it really?

In the world of writing and publishing, 2022 is right around the corner, so if I’m not planning for it now, I definitely won’t be ready when it arrives! And that’s the crux of what I learned from my decision to REALIZE my first goal—I needed a solid plan—because here’s the deal…I don’t know a damn thing about self-publishing.

So I hit the Internet and did some research. I found some excellent YouTube resources, and I asked a lot of questions in my writing group. They all pointed me in the same direction. To achieve my self-publishing goals I had to develop a comprehensive daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly schedule of achievable targets.

Not only did I need to know where I wanted to go in 2021, I needed to map out what to do to get there, how to do it, what time and resources would be required, and how I would measure my success.

Smart Planning or Planning Smart?

Now here’s the thing, most people, myself included, have more than one goal at a time. The happy news is this type of planning applies to ALL goals. In my case, when I took a serious look inward, I discovered I had four main priorities for 2021. These are in no particular order:

  • Writing and self-publishing
  • Working on health and wellness
  • Maintaining the Sharing is Caring Blog
  • Focussing on quality family time

Here’s a quick breakdown of the steps I followed using the SMART method (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time based). Below is the Cliff Notes version of my planning work for the Sharing is Caring Blog. This is high level and doesn’t represent the full amount of work that went into my planning for 2021!

  1. Review previous year wins, and decide what you will and won’t take into the next year.
    • For example – the Sharing is Caring Blog was a win for me in 2020. I decided to take it into 2021 with some modifications.
    • I won’t be doing a weekly accountability post on the Sharing is Caring Blog because the content is not of value to followers.
  2. Brainstorm your new goals.
    • Make sure your goals are truly what you want because achieving them involves work!
    • Keep your goals to a small achievable number.
  3. Create a mission statement for each goal. Mission statements should start with a concrete I will statement, be brief (25 – 50 words), be clear and concise.
    • For example – I will consistently publish quality content on the Sharing is Caring blog that followers will benefit from, be entertained by, and engage with, to continue building a supportive community of like minded chronic discomfort warriors.
  4. Identify the key activities that need to be completed to achieve each goal.
    • Publish one blog per month (minimum).
    • Revamp newsletter.
    • Improve quality and content of blogs.
    • Grow community by 10%.
  5. Identify how you will complete the key activities.
    • Schedule blog writing time.
    • Schedule blog post dates.
    • Make content beneficial to followers by adding value add content in the form of links/resources/etc.
    • Continue to pursue publishing on The Mighty.
    • Continue positive engagement with followers.
    • Continue promoting blog on other social media sites.
  6. Identify the resources you need to achieve your goal (time, money, support). Hours per month are per blog post. You can see how multiple posts can add up to a significant amount of time.
    • 5 hours per month to write, edit, format, post blog.
    • 1 hour per month to maintain website.
    • 2 – 5 hours per month to schedule social media posts.
    • 2 – 5 hours per month for up-skilling (learning new tech, learning how to create good newsletters, etc.)
    • $100.00 per year to maintain website.
  7. Create metrics to measure your progress toward achieving your goal.
    • Monthly blog posted.
    • Positive follower response to revamped newsletter.
    • Continued follower engagement on blog.
    • Increase in newsletter subscribers by 5 people.
  8. Identify who needs to know about each goal.
    • People involved in the actual execution of the goal. Web designers, editors, etc. In the case of the Sharing is Caring blog that’s me!
    • Your support crowd. Family, friends, other chronic discomfort bloggers. That’s you! My goal of achieving a welcoming community of fellow warriors is NOTHING without people to share it with.

More to come!

Like I said, it was a lot of work to get to a clear goal for the Sharing is Caring blog for 2021, but I enjoyed the process and now have a specific direction in which to focus my time and effort.

I even made a 2021 Vision Board – see below – the travel pics to Rwanda or an island beach were included as something to look forward to, but no set travel goal was made because…you know COVID.

So, it’s been a year, and we’ve made it this far – yay us – really happy to have all of you still on this journey with me.

Let’s see what we can accomplish together in 2021!

How about you? Did you make plans to achieve your goals this year? Would you be interested in the goal planning work sheet I used to create my plan for this year? I’m working on finding a way to link it to the blog, but that’s one of those techy things I need to learn. If you want it, and would like it sooner than later, drop a comment below, or send me an email and I’ll get it to you.

Since this blog is getting long, I’ll wrap things up here, but leave you with a little hint about what’s coming up next.

Until the next blog – breathe deep chronic pain WARRIORS!

Current discomfort level 5/10.

Sharing is Caring!

6 thoughts on “New Year – Same Old Me – Only Better”

  1. You go sister! Proud of you.

    Please put my on the list for a signed copy of your first published book. I can not wait for it to be in my hands.

    Someone told me once to do a vision board…. hmmmm I will give it some thought….

    My big goal for 2021 is to go back to school and do 2 courses per semester. Now if COVID would stop putting me off work this is definitely attainable.

    Best wishes on your continued journey 💕

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