G is for Goals

I love goals.  You do too, even though you may not realize it.

You see, in order to even "fail" you need something in which to fail from: aka, a goal.  My daughter often quotes a wonderful phrase.  "If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?"

I love that.  How many of us are actively "trying" to fail at something.  Okay, there may be a few.  Like if there is something you hate to do, then maybe you'll fail so that someone won't ask you to do it again.  Or not. You could possibly just be setting yourself up for multiple heartache by ignoring the hard things.  I'm a firm believer in goals because as the saying goes, "If you don't know where you're going...any road will take you there."

20 years ago I made a goal to finish college, in spite of the fact that I was putting it on hold to put my husband through first.  There wasn't enough money to go around, so I said "You first."  And looking back I have no regrets.  I got to raise 7 beautiful children, all of which still live at home, two of which were born after I started back to school some 9 years ago.

Yes. It took me 8 years to get my associates degree. And after this semester I'll only have one year left for my bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing.

I believe you can do anything if you set your mind to it.  But first you need to make a goal in order to set your plan in motion.  I want to be a writer.  So I study writing, practice writing, talk to other writers and learn from them. Done. Goal accomplished.  Now I want to be published.  So I write some more, take classes, learn about querying, attend multiple workshops and conferences, and edit to my heart's content (and then some).

And it doesn't stop there.  Once I've been published, there will be tons to do. Including writing even more and trying to get that published as well. The cycle never ends!  Isn't it great????  :)  Yeah, I think so too.

How about you? What do you think about goals are and where do you go for help in accomplishing them?