Make Your Dreams Come True Day
Imagine you had a magic wand that could make all your dreams come true. Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Now, step back from fantasy to reality. There is a way to realise those dreams without magic or megabucks. It’s called setting goals. On Make Your Dreams Come True Day, why not take time out to do it? Even ten minutes can take you closer to achieving your desires.
Realistic Goals
It’s crucial to have realistic goals. That might mean breaking down a task into chunks, or setting less arduous goals as stepping stones. For example, if you want to write a novel but you haven’t even written a short story yet, set yourself the target of producing a short tale first. You’ll feel good when you achieve that first success and you’ll have developed skills that will help you in your ultimate aim.
We can learn from big corporations here. If you’ve ever worked for one, you’ll be used to agreeing SMART objectives with your manager – that is, you’ll agree on tasks which are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. Employers do this for a reason. They know that SMART goals are likely to succeed.
A Case Study in SMART Objectives – The Vodka Trail
Looking back at my writing resolutions for 2016, #1 was to write a sequel to my British mystery thriller, The Bride’s Trail. This ticked all the SMART boxes – it was:
Specific – I would write another thriller about glamorous Kat, shy Amy and arrogant Ross.
Measurable – the objective would be met when the book was published.
Achievable – I’d already written and published one thriller a year from 2013 to 2015.
Relevant – I’m a writer, after all.
Time-bound – I announced to the world that I’d do it in 2016, but in my mind, I gave myself 6 months from mid-January.
The Vodka Trail, the twisting tale of Kat’s kidnap by terrorists, was published on 18 July 2016! The rest of the thrilling series – The Grass Trail, The Revenge Trail and The Final Trail – followed in 2017, 2018 and 2019. As with my latest novel, dark psychological thriller Bright Lies, I plotted each book in advance and planned chunks – chapters – before sitting at my laptop to write them.
My Top Tip
My Top Tip is: Share Your Goals! Just as I did when announcing my writing resolutions for 2016, tell others of your plans and they’ll help you to stay accountable for them.
Whether your dream is to change jobs, write that novel or make the world a better place, I wish you the very best of luck!
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Bright Lies, heralded by respected American review site Readers’ Favorite as “5 star compelling drama” had its origin in a dream 30 years ago. In that dark night-time fantasy, Emily emerged fleeing from danger and finding sanctuary with troubled nightclub DJ Jack in his Birmingham squat. It has taken many years to channel that dream into a book, but the great reviews prove it was worth it. Click on the book’s cover here to start reading.
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