Welcome to 2020 said no one this year!
The start of a new year usually comes with new goals or expectations for what you’d like to accomplish. As a novel writing junkie, my goals were to finish TWO of my works in progress. One of which being, FORSAKEN. A fantasy novel that I’ve been scribbling away for the last five years, only to redraft the entire thing! Another project being HERE AND THERE, a collection of short stories and flash fictions that I’ve labored off and on for a couple years (which is closer to be finished than yesterday!).
Needless to say, as we reach the crest of the year and time has withered away before our eyes, I can say with all honesty, I’ve completed neither of these projects. That’s not to say, however, that I haven’t made strides forward on both, it’s just not progress that meets my OVERLY LARGE EXPECTATIONS nor my established goals.
So In process of reflecting over the last few months, I’ve ditched my 2020 goals entirely and I think you should too. We’re under abnormal circumstances, meaning that things should be handled differently.
What does this all mean?
Goals are detrimental to actually completing tasks, at least I think so. If the goal is too big, then I like to break it down into even smaller chucks so I feel like the train is constantly moving down the tracks (even if it’s at a slow and steady pace). When we focus on the big picture, we tend to discourage ourselves from finishing.
With that all in mind, this year has affected each of us in different ways– negatively and positively. But I’m here to say : Throw away your 2020 goals and leave them in your rear view mirror!