Avoid Writing Pitfalls by Setting SMARTER Goals (Ep. 146)

It’s no secret that time is limited. We all have the same amount of time–168 hours. But it’s not the fact that we have all this time, it’s how we use this time that will either help us achieve success or leave us scratching our heads wondering, where did all my time go this week?

Procrastination is something all professionals face. Whether you’re working on a big project for your boss, trying to clean your house, or simply needing to make the time to write that darn book.

It’s no wonder why so many writers tend to take 10-20 years to finally accomplish their lifelong goal of writing a book. It doesn’t have to be that way. The last novel I wrote, Vengeance at Purgatory, took me ten years to write. Why? Because I simply make excuses for not getting the work done. And tonight, I’m going to show you how you can write faster, get more done, and accomplish your goals by the end of this year.

So, what do we need to do to take back time, triage our to-do lists, set SMARTER goals, and finally be free to focus on the one goal that’s been plaguing us, finishing that blasted book.

On Monday, March 9, 2020, I spoke to the Minnesota Christain Writer’s Guild. This podcast episode is a recording of that keynote.

1. YOU MUST STOP!

Remember the old Kindergarten game – Red light, Green light? It’s a game where you start running and before you get a few feet planted, the teacher yells out – RED LIGHT! And you’re goal was to stop. But if you had too much momentum against you, you’d fall flat on your face, and the floor would force you to stop.

The same is true in our lives. If we don’t learn how to stop, our calendars and time will force us to stop, either by sheer exhaustion, or more likely, things start falling through the cracks and you have to give up on your goals and dreams for the year, because everything else vies for your attention.

Three objectives we must answer to achieve success. Objective 1: Efficiency, Objective 2: Success, Objective 2: Freedom to focus.

2. Get rid of Limiting Beliefs and install Liberating truths

It’s hard to stop and evaluate our lives. It’s hard to discover that there is more to life than consistently being on the go. What we can do – change our thinking. This is the crux of learning to be free and learning to move forward with the dreams, plans, and desires God has placed on your heart.

So often we struggle with our thought life. Our mindset drives our beliefs that we have about ourselves or our current situations. These are limiting beliefs, because they limit our potential and establish false boundaries the prevent us from accomplishing our goals.

I discuss some limiting beliefs I pulled from Michael Hyatt’s book – what resonates with you?

3. Set SMARTER goals

Have you ever taken a road trip without a map or clear directions? Maybe you want to take your wife to a fancy 5 Star Restaurant but you failed to set the reservations. This is what happens in our life if we desire something but we never set a written goal with specific action steps to get us from point A to Victory.

I want to give you seven steps for creating an action plan this year to help you write more effectively and get the things done you want to see accomplished.

4. Act on your goals by prioritizing your tasks

Entrepreneur Greg McKeown said, “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”

We’re all busy. Things come up, vie for our attention and we have done everything we can to cut something somewhere. But we sit and look at this huge task list of responsibilities and wonder where we should start and what we should focus on today. We can all come up with endless lists of things that could be done.

Here’s the question – Do they all have to be done right now? Just because something is important, doesn’t mean it’s important at this very moment. In other words,