Before making my list of writing goals for 2010, I did some serious evaluating last month to try to discover why I had accomplished so much less than I’d hoped in 2009. I had worked harder and longer hours, doing my best to be efficient.

Even so, I wasn’t effective in many areas where I had set goals. I either failed totally or accomplished just a fraction of what I had intended. Why hadn’t I been effective? I was practically the most efficient person I knew!

They Aren’t the Same!

Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most ecconomical manner possible.

Most of us work hard to be efficient in our lives just to stay on top of ever-lengthening To Do lists. And efficiency is good–when it’s applied to the right things, the important things. It’s absolutely useless if it’s not.

Important vs. Unimportant

How do you decide which tasks are important to moving toward your writing goals? It all depends on what your ultimate goals are. Is your main goal to write books, perhaps even make a living at it? Is your writing goal to land a staff position on a big city newspaper? Do you want to bring your writing skills up several notches in 2010?

Once you know your over-all dreams, then look at your To Do list with a more critical eye. Which things on the list support your goal? Those are the important jobs. Which things–if done later, done quickly, or (gasp!) left undone–wouldn’t affect your goals at all? Those are the unimportant tasks.

Take a Step Back

Sometimes we are so close to our To Do lists that we can’t see the forest for the trees. We don’t see that doing something unimportant really well doesn’t make it important. (I’m an excellent email organizer, for example, with all kinds of folders and tags and categories. I have the most organized unnecessary and unwanted email you ever saw.)

Also, just because a task would require a lot of time to accomplish doesn’t make it important either. (The email query to the editor might take you an hour. Reorganizing your writing closet will take four hours. Only querying will get you that coveted assignment–making it the most important task nine times out of ten.)

Effectiveness Trumps Efficiency

Yes, it’s great to be efficient, but to repeat myself, it’s only helpful when you are being effective. For example, if you want to lose the holiday pounds you added, which supports your goal the best–efficiently organizing your recipe files or going for a power walk?

If you want to finish your first novel, which action supports your goal–tearing articles from your writing magazines to file, or sweating over that first chapter?

Are You Effective–or Just Busy?

You want to make the most of your time available. I don’t know what your “efficient time wasters” are, but you probably do. I’ll be talking more about this in the weeks and months to come as I cast a cold, unrelenting eye on each item on my list–and weed out some activities that look good or that “everyone” says you have to do.

What’s the deciding factor? It’s this: Will it take me closer to my goals in some measurable way? Good! If not, it gets pushed to the bottom of the list. I may get to it later–or never!

photo by adamsofen www.flickr.com

If you have elementary- or middle school-aged children (or teach them), they are probably hearing a lot of jokes right now about New Year’s resolutions. That’s kind of what New Year’s resolutions have become–a joke. How long until we break our resolutions? Have we even made it to January 4th? But as we all know and many kids and teens know, too, it is important to make goals–short and long term. I make a lot of small goals each month as a writer, and I suppose one or two personal goals as well. Sometimes, I accomplish them, and sometimes not so much. Whether I call them resolutions or goals, I don’t beat myself up when I don’t accomplish one or two or ten. I just look at my list, think about what I can do better, and head on to the next month.

I found this book on Amazon that is geared toward students and teaching them how to set goals:

What I think is important when teaching children and teens to set goals as well as setting them for yourself is to make sure your goals are specific, possible for YOU to do, and measurable. Here’s a few examples of what I mean:

Elementary-school goal: (Good example) I will raise my spelling grade by practicing my words each night, Monday through Thursday, for 20 minutes.

This goal is specific–raise spelling grade, practice Mon. to Thurs., and 20 minutes. It is possible for a child to do, which means this goal does not rely on anyone else but the child to do it. And it’s measurable-after a quarter, you can easily see if the spelling grade has been raised or not by looking at the child’s percentages on tests.

Elementary-school goal (Bad example): I will raise my grades and do some homework.

No need for explanation here; obviously the first goal is written better.

High school goal (Good example): I will practice my three-point shooting for 30 minutes, three mornings a week before school, until I can make 5 out of 10 each morning.

High School goal (Bad example): I will work on my shooting every day.

With just these couple of examples, it is easy to see the difference between a well-written goal and a goal that is not as specific or measurable.

Since this post is about goal-setting, here’s a few of my goals (I like to call them that instead of resolutions) for 2010:

1. Query agents about my young adult novel on a consistent basis, meaning have three active queries out at all times.

2. Polish and get ready to send out at least three of my picture book manuscripts this year.

3. Start research on a new novel, brainstorm about the characters and plot, and create an outline.

4. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables at least two times each day and take my vitamin every day. (Oops, need to go take it right now, hold on!)

5. Work out on the stair stepper at home, three times (or more!) a week for 30 minutes each time.

If you feel like sharing any goals here for your children or yourself, feel free. If you have any questions, I can try and help you get your goal worded so that it is measurable and specific. Finally, look at your goals each month, if you aren’t accomplishing them, then don’t beat yourself up. That’s the number one rule for you and your students or children. See how you can change something in your lives or your classroom to help you achieve your goals and start from there!

I can see the light at the end of my long-term-projects tunnel. I am hoping for more balance in 2010. And am making a list of moderately detailed NY's resolutions/affirmations/manifestations to that effect. Looking forward to seeing if I can make some headway on the other vastly neglected areas of my life outside of work (I really miss my garden).

Because I am going to practice what I preach and go for a long hike today, I decided to post a previous article on recovering your energy. It’s worth repeating, I think.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In a previous blog on “Managing Your Energy Fully,” I quoted from the book The Power of Full Engagement:

To be an effective energy manager, you need to spend nearly all of your time fully engaged in the high positive energy quadrant or recovering your energy by spending time doing things in the low positive energy quadrant.

Definition of Terms

The low positive energy quadrant consists of doing activities that leave you relaxed, mellow, peaceful, tranquil and serene. For me, that means reading a good book or watching a good movie or spending time with certain people with whom I’m on the same sympathetic wavelength.

For you, such positive-energy producing activities may include fishing, golf, sitting in your porch swing, listening to music, going for a bike ride or stroll, or any number of things. The important point is this: unless you spend sufficient short periods throughout your day in intermitten recovery, you’ll burn out and experience a host of other unpleasant symptoms.

Is It Really That Important?

Yes, if you spend all day writing furiously on your novel, zipping along in your high energy positive quadrant, you’ll produce an amazing amount of work. That day, anyway. Maybe even two days in a row, but that will be it.

By relentlessly spending mental energy without recovery, you’ll be tired, anxious, irritable–and self-doubt will inevitably set in. In a tired state, our stories stink, our ideas sound hackneyed, and our prose deadly dull. At that point, we end up taking off more time from the writing than we would have if we’d made ourselves take those intermittent breaks throughout the writing day.

The Pay-Off

What’s the result of taking those short “low positive energy” recovery breaks? You’ll come back to your work more energized, less ache-y in the neck and back, and more emotionally upbeat.

The emotional component is just as important as your physical energy level! Defusing the bombs of self-doubt and anxiety will help your writing as much as feeling re-energized. And in the end, you’ll write more, not less, by taking the short breaks throughout the day.

Give it a try for a week and see. I think you’ll be amazed.

I have started the new year with an optimistic set of intentions which, hopefully, I’ll be able to honor. A few of them have to do with world peace—perhaps not surprisingly, given our world’s state of affairs—but, as the days go by and news of more world conflicts are absorbed, I am reminded that it takes a lot more than good intentions to live up to one’s high ideals.

So with these thoughts in mind, yesterday I headed to my local library to find a children’s book on the theme of new year’s resolutions and/or good intentions. As it turned out, I was introduced to an adorable young boy who knows exactly what he needs to do to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Written and illustrated by Isabel Pin, and translated from the German by Nancy Seitz, When I Grow Up I Will Win the Nobel Peace Prize (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006) is the tale of a boy who is determined to be good… when he grows up. He will help the poor. He will be kind to everyone. He will protect the environment and help save the planet. When he grows up.

Whereas the text states all his noble intentions, page after page of Pin’s exuberant illustrations depicts him behaving contrary to his ideals. But when the list of what he’ll do when he grows up gets too long, he finally realizes that getting started right away isn’t such a bad idea.

This delightful book will give children and adults lots to ponder and consider about their own good intentions, and should get them acting on them sooner, rather than later.

An afterword provides a brief history of the Nobel Peace Prize and describes the inspiring good deeds of some of its recipients.

For additional peace-related resources, check our reading lists & links. Our “war & peace in children’s books” issue will be up until the end of January.

If you think about it, it does not make a whole lot of sense to wait until the new year to set goals. We should be setting and evaluating our goals all throughout the year. Our children should not wait until January 1 (half way through the school year) to work harder at school. No adult should wait until the new year to start appreciating his or her spouse or wait until now to stop destructive behavior or habits.

So what does work for setting and keeping goals? If the answer were easy, I’d be selling it and getting rich. But the truth is that there are no secrets to setting and keeping resolutions. Everything any human can accomplish can be summed up with one simple word. . .

Discipline

There are no formulas, pills, potions, experts or manuals that can give you shortcuts or tools that will put you ahead of others in meeting your goals. It always amazes me how many billions of dollars Americans spend on weight loss solutions. Our lives are flooded with magazine and newspaper articles, news programs, reality shows, books, radio programs and more telling us how important it is to maintain a healthy weight and what to do to reach that weight. Yet Americans are getting fatter and fatter. If each and every one of us really thought about it, we do not need to be told what we need to do to maintain a healthy weight. We already know what we need to do! But the sad fact is that most people simply do not do it. People criticize fast food restaurants, saying that the food choices are not healthy enough. Then the fast food restaurants add salads, apples and other lower calorie items to their menus, but people still eat the greasy burgers and fries. Is that because they do not know these foods are unhealthy? No!!!!! It is because they are undisciplined.

Let me share with you my personal mantra to maintaining a healthy weight . . .

“Shut Your Pie Hole and Move Your Ass.”

I tell myself this daily, and it live by it. I enjoy fantastic, delicious, healthy whole food, and I am a gourmet cook. I avoid sweets, but eat them on occasion. (I used to be a Sugar Junkie!!) I choose to not gorge myself on anything, and prefer small portions. I try to eat high fiber foods whenever possible. I do not consume processed foods. I do rigorous exercise every day for 30-45 minutes. I am not naturally athletic. (I was always the last person picked for team sports when I was a kid.) I do not have a personal trainer. I do not own workout machines. I have an inexpensive plastic stepper, free weights, a jump rope and some workot DVDs - plus an athletic dog to run with. Working out has become a habit (for 13 years now) and is no longer a burden. In fact, I do not feel good if I do not get some exercise.

Getting fit is much easier than getting rich or finding a cure for a rare disease. You just have to follow my mantra.

And for any other goals? A good plan and discipline will help you reach them any day of the year.

Quitting smoking (along with improved diet and more exercise and losing weight) is a very popular New Year's resolution. For all of you who've added this one to your list, I say-good luck, go for it, great!

I don't smoke, but for all of you out there who do, and who have made a New Year's Resolution to quit, I pass along this information.

CGC has a program that starts tomorrow, January 10, 2008. You "register" for the program by calling 323-QUIT (323-7848).

The program is FREE, and provides FREE nicotine-replacement gum, FREE nic-patches, FREE meds to ease the craving (Chantix). Research shows that these things work best in conjunction with counseling. So CGC has this set-up: To get this free help, you go to meetings. The first one is Thursday, 1/10/2008 at 1PM until 2:30 PM at Conference Room 3, new wing of CHC. The program lasts 9 weeks and ends approximately 3/6/2008.


It's not a perfect offer--I asked how could people who work go to these meetings? Doctors, lawyers, teachers--people with any job, really--are needed on the job typically during the day.

CGC recognizes that its first program schedule isn't user-friendly for these possible hopefuls. They do want to add another program (after this first 9 week one?) that will be in evenings.

But if you're interested in finding solutions to make this New Year's Resolution happen, you can contact CGC. They want to help.

From today's online Publishers Weekly:

The Secret of The Secret's Success from SMP
by Matthew Thornton
In a deal inspired by current bestseller and Oprah phenomenon The Secret, Thomas Dunne has announced that his imprint at St. Martin's will publish Karen Kelly's The Secret of the Secret in August. This will be a wide-ranging analysis of Rhonda Byrne's book; Madeleine Morel at 2M Communications sold world rights.

Kelly, a former editor at Warner Books who has also worked as a ghostwriter, will talk to media and publishing professionals, scientists, psychologists and philosophy experts to help explain the success of The Secret and whether its message, on the power of positive thinking, really works. Kelly will also reveal The Secret's scientific and religious influences and investigate the lives of eminent figures like Shakespeare, Einstein and Plato to see if these men did, as Byrne claims, all share The Secret.

(Full disclosure: This sounds like a hard slog. I don't envy Karen Kelly, except maybe her advance.)





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