I think we often confuse goals with ambitions -- and further complicate matters by mistaking daydreams for ambitions.
For example, I’d love to write a best-selling novel, but that’s not a goal. Why? There are far too many factors outside of my control. I can’t control whether a literary agent decides to represent me or whether a major publisher gives me a contract. Even if all of that eventually succeeds, there’s no way to predict how many copies my imaginary novel would sell.
However, I can make a goal of writing a certain number of pages or words within a set amount of time, and after I have a completed novel, I can make a goal of how many agents or publishers to contact.
Goals are quantifiable. You’ve probably heard of the acronym SMART for goal setting. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based. (We’ll delve more deeply into this concept next week.) I wrote my first short novel using a popular SMART goal, though it isn’t labeled as such. I finished the first draft of my first novel during National Novel Writing Month.
National Novel Writing Month (or Nanowrimo) is a world-renowned novel writing challenge. It has a single goal: All participants strive to write a 50,000-word novel during November. It’s a nearly perfect example of a SMART goal. It’s specific (50,000 words in a month), measurable (by word count), achievable (many writers manage to complete the challenge), realistic (it’s a stretch but doable), and time-based (you have 30 days). It’s also fun and creates a great sense of camaraderie as writers worldwide all strive and struggle together. I participate almost every year, though I’ve only made the word count goal twice.
However, I wanted to write a novel for many years without taking any concrete action. I thought about writing and sometimes read writing guides and would even sit down every November 1st to peck out a few thousand words for Nanowrimo before I quickly gave up. Though I often said that my goal was to write a novel, my behavior proved it was only a daydream.
I eventually turned a corner and started taking concrete steps toward writing a novel. I transformed my longtime daydream into smaller, measurable goals. It turns out that I can write novels; I’ve proven it to myself. But I can’t set a goal to become a best-selling author. That’s not even a realistic ambition; it’s simply a fantasy. No amount of hard work will make it happen without a lot of luck. A better, more realistic aspiration would be to publish a novel. Failing traditional publication (which, aside from some level of perseverance, is entirely outside of my control), I could always self-publish -- or even serialize a novel on Substack, as Elle Griffin currently is*. I have options. I can set goals and work toward eventual publication.
I’m sure you have something similar in your own life, something that was once a daydream that became a goal -- or at least something you’ve thought about for a long time that you would like to accomplish.
Challenge:
This week I urge you to do some self-reflection. Do you have goals that are really daydreams? Or do you have an ambition that could be broken down into smaller, achievable goals? If you’ve had difficulty setting realistic goals in the past, journal a little about why that may have been. Did you let others’ expectations guide your ambitions? Did you succeed in unanticipated ways? Just give some thought to how you’ve approached goal-setting in the past.
Weekly Check-In:
How did your review challenge go last week? Do you have a busy week ahead? Fall is finally on its way here in the Northern Hemisphere; what autumn activities do you have coming up? Look ahead on your calendar and schedule something fun for later in the season.
Until Next Time:
I struggle with goal-setting and often find it hard to balance what I can realistically accomplish with what I would like to achieve. We’ll talk more about goals next time, though hopefully less about me! I hope you have a fun and productive week.
*(And it’s a shivery delight so far!)