To be a successful freelance writer, you must set clear goals for your writing business and the other important areas of your life. Psychological studies show the usefulness of setting goals, as long as those goals are set properly and pursued diligently.
3 Reasons Why Goals Are Important for Freelance Writers
1. They Provide Energy and Motivation
When you know what you want to accomplish, why you want to accomplish it, and how you will accomplish it, you’ll be primed to do what’s necessary. You’ll feel more energetic and your brain will focus directly on what you need to do.
For example, if one of your highest priorities is to write a high-quality book on a certain subject, finish it by a certain date, and then get it published, you’ll find that your desire to have it completed will give you the fuel and fire you need to get it done.
2. They Guide Your Activities
When you have clear goals, you’ll always have good guidelines for what you should do: you’ll know what is the best use of your time at any moment. You will always have a plan for your minutes and hours, your days and weeks, your months and years.
3. They Help You Adjust and Learn
As you pursue your goals, you’ll learn better ways to achieve what you want more quickly, or what you want may shift over time. You’ll also have to accommodate to new information and new circumstances.
Having an initial set of goals and action plans provides you with a blueprint for what you want; you can always adjust both as you move through life.
How Not Having Goals Hurts You
If you aren’t clear on what you want to do, whether with your writing career, your health, or your relationships with family and friends, you will likely choose the easiest and most expedient actions, not the ones you need to do to reach your full potential. You’ll wander from one idea to another, bringing very few to completion. You’ll squander time and energy, make less money, and get less fulfillment from life.
On a very practical level, you need to know where you want to go in life; otherwise you’ll drift aimlessly.
Make SMART Goals…
Specific
You must clearly state exactly what you want. The more clarity you have, the more likely you are to succeed.
Measurable
You must have ways to measure your progress. In freelance writing, it can be finishing two articles a week, or contacting ten editors/potential clients a week. In weight loss, you must set a specific number of pounds you want to lose.
Attainable
You want to set challenging yet realistic goals. If you set a goal that you really don’t think you can reach, you will become discouraged and lose motivation.
For example, if you set a freelance writing income target of $20,000 per month starting next month, yet you’ve never made more than $2,000 in a month, your brain will rebel and you may find it very difficult to write anything.
But if you currently make $2,000 per month, you can realistically make $3,000 per month at the end of 6 months, and $4000 per month at the end of 12 months. At the end of one year you will have doubled your income.
However, what is a realistic for one person may not be a realistic for another. Only you know what you are truly capable of, and only you know how badly you want a certain goal and the resources you have — time, skills, money, energy — to devote to reaching it.
Relevant
You must set goals that are relevant for what you truly desire so you will have a high level of commitment.
Your goals should inspire you and make you want to get out of bed each day ready to take on life.
Time-Bounded
You must set specific deadlines. Break them down into weekly and monthly milestones, and if you have an especially big goal, like a college degree, by year also. Setting definite dates will keep you focused and motivated.
Also Set Good Process Goals…
Let’s use your freelance writing business as an example.
Process goals encompass important activities that are crucial for your freelance writing success, but aren’t measured in terms of dollars earned, clients landed, or pieces published.
They include learning important things necessary for your business, such as improving your writing skills or learning new marketing techniques. They also include the attitude you take when working, such as one of relaxed confidence, and also physical aspects such as sitting at the computer with proper posture.
Set Goals for All Areas of Your Life…
I’ve focused primarily on your freelance writing business in this post, but you also need goals in all areas of your life, including
Personal Relationships
- Family
- Friends
- Spouse/life partner
- Other
Health
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- Sleep
- Stress reduction
- Other
Personal Development
- Hobbies
- Personal growth
- Learning
- Spirituality
- Other
Finances
- Budgets
- Savings
- Retirement
- Investments
- Other
Professional
- Income
- Writing
- Business
- Job
- Other
Your Take
Do you set goals for your writing and your life? If so, have you followed the guidelines I discussed here? What’s been your experience?
Amen, amen, amen! John, brilliant post even in its simplicity. Your notion of how not having goals can hurt you are spot on. I have seen, time and again, people flitting from fad to fad or trying to copy off someone else’s paper (so to speak), and it just fails. Why? Because it’s not a plan. It’s an attempt at quick-and-dirty cash, which isn’t going to be sustainable over the long term.
If only these people would take 30 minutes and plan out an approach that will actually work for them. This post is a great guide to do that very thing.
Thank you Lori! It is so true that so many people achieve so little in life because they do not have a set of clear and realistic goals and a plan to implement those goals.
Great post! I couldn’t agree with you more. I spent the first nine months of my freelance writing “career” (and I use that word very loosely at this point!) fluttering about from project to project without focusing on any specific goals. In the past two months, I created a mission statement and set clear goals for how I’m going to achieve that mission. Every day, I’m taking steps towards those goals and have seen more progress in two months than I did in the first nine.
Tarissa, I’m so glad to hear that you’ve set clear goals and you are getting good results! It’s amazing how much difference goals can make in bringing us success.
When I started freelance writing a few months ago, I found it easier to focus on the amount of money I needed to make on a day to day basis in order to pay my monthly bills. The transition from an employee mindset to a self employed mindset is part of what made that so difficult. Now that I am a few months into working for myself, it is much easier for me to create a yearly salary goal going into 2014.
Halona, setting an average amount of money to make on a daily basis can be a very good goal, as long as the number is realistic. It sounds like this is working well for you.
Setting a goal is a lot like deciding on a destination — and this is good, or we may get lost in the desert. After setting that goal though, it all actually depends on each person’s travelling style.
Veering off-course can sometimes unexpectedly lead to forgotten ancient cities that we didn’t even know existed — where hidden treasures are only waiting to be discovered. Or we may die of thirst.
I prefer a more flexible style, in which I set goals yet leave room enough to explore new directions or to follow occasional whims. Paradoxically (or quite quite logically), these escapades tend to prove quite constructive and productive many times — not always, I must admit.
But I’ve found that sticking to a rigid plan ends up stifling me. Perhaps this happens because I’m ambidextrous; you know, working with both brain hemispheres. Sometimes my left analytical brain takes over and works just fine — until my right intuitive, somewhat rebel brain kicks in and wants its rightful share in life.
You have a great approach to goals Helene — my hat is off to you.
It is important to be willing to modify our goals, or even change them radically, as we progress through life. Some of my best life decisions came when I decided to defer or drop a goal and pursue something else instead.
I’m with Helene… I have goals and I have flexibility… they have to work together in my mind.
I agree Anne. We change and life changes, so we need to be flexible.
I used to buy Taylor on time’s refill calendars each year and there was a section at the front to write down your annual goals and I used to write a few down: Send out 2 query letters a week. Buy a red Suzuki Burgman.
With technology I stopped used a planner and synch my computer with my iPhone and got away from writing goals down.
Never did so well on them anyway. I ended up buying a black Burgman…
Well, you did get a Suzuki Burgman!
When I first started setting goals I wrote them in a notebook. Now I write them in a Word document.
Hmmm…. How do you align them? I mean, how will you know which goal has a higher priority than the other? I’m asking this because I’d like to start implementing this idea too of writing down goals with Word document.
I have achieved things both with and without goals, and frankly I did better with goals (To be honest, I learned more without any goals, since I made a lot more mistakes. But, the disadvantage is that I lost a lot of my time, and time is just one resource we don’t want to waste).
I also agree with your other points about setting realistic goals – motivation is one thing we don’t want to lose.
Anyways, great tips, John. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are having a good week!
Jeevan, I totally agree that there will be more mistakes without goals and a lot of time wasted. Thanks for stopping by!
I so love how you include personal as well as business goals. It’s so like you, John, to find the balance. And one of the best ways to do that is to give the same energy and focus to your personal life as you do your business.
Spot on, John!
I don’t know how people can truly accomplish things without setting goals! Definitely makes it easier anyways. Great article!
Great article. I am not a free lance writer but I do have a blog and website. So time management and prioritizing is always an issue. Your checklists are very good and worth referring to often. I am going to bookmark this article. Very well done and helpful. Thanks.
Hi John
A great reminder, and something we all need once in a while!
Setting goals has really changed how I do my work.
I have endless tasks to accomplish, so knowing what is more important at any given moment is key!
great post
ashley
I want to be a freelancer. Thank you very much for your guideline. This will help be to do well.