“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re too small.”
~ Richard Branson ~ So This is the time of year when we evaluate what we did over the past year, and reassess. A new year is a time for new beginnings, so part of that evaluation of the past is also looking to the future. What did I not accomplish last year? What do I want to achieve in the new year?

For me, especially this year, now is the time to forgive myself for, in my mind, falling short in the past year. And part of that forgiveness includes reviewing last year’s goals and understanding what it was about those goals that prevented me from accomplishing them. Now obviously, in a year of turmoil like that of 2020 there are so many reasons why I didn’t manage to check off my long list of projects I hoped to complete. This is the time where I need to:
FORGIVE
FORGET
REASSESS
MOVE ON

So here I go! I'm starting fresh for 2021 with renewed hope and drive to accomplish what I set out to do last year. If I don’t complete this goal-setting exercise every year, I have no reason to finish anything. I have no guide. I have no drive. I have no hope. So my words to guide me for 2021 are DETERMINATION and OPTIMISIM.

​ Do you chose words to help you focus in the New Year? This year, I looked at the goals I set last December and realized I accomplished almost nothing on my list. But instead of beating up myself for “failing”—okay, I’ve already done that, plenty—I have taken those goals, tweaked them, and thrown them into the 2021 file. And… I’ve sent them off to my weekly Goals Reporting group. They are good at holding me accountable. Or at the very least, encouraging me along the way.

A fresh start!

So, I encourage all of you to take a risk. Write down not only what you think you can accomplish, but what you dream you might accomplish if all the stars align. You might not complete all of those goals, but if you don’t aspire to anything, you have nothing to aim for.

Goals will be different, depending on what your objective is.

Examples of annual goals for a writer could be: • Setting an annual word count • Books to be completed: written, edited, formatted, and/or released • Conferences and other skill building activities • Promotion – which could include a schedule for social media, trying new social media or promotional sites, a plan for soliciting reviews, building a review or street team, working with experts to enhance what you do or learning new tools, guest blogging, website update schedule for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) • Reaching out to a friend(s) or joining a group to help keep you on task. Believe in yourself and chances are you can accomplish a lot more than you ever dreamed.

Setting goals down on paper gives you that roadmap for your journey to a destination. Whether you're an artist, a reader of romance books, or working from home for pay, setting goals gives you something to strive for. For example, as a reader who wants to keep track of how many books they read, by belonging to Goodreads, you're able to track the number of books you read annually. Or you can look back on your purchases of books and check-off the books you read.

Along the route to accomplishing your goal, you may need to take a detour, or double back, or change course altogether, but at least you started out with a target in mind. And when you do need to change course, you do so with the intention of knowing the end goal and therefore still aiming to accomplish something. This is a mindset I think many of us need as we head out of a year that was full of obstacles, pitfalls, and unpleasant surprises. Look forward to the positive, jut that chin in the air with determination, and plow forward into what one hopes will be a new, bright, and optimistic journey. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
~ Milton Berle ~  And remember…what doesn’t get completed this year…well, there’s always rolling over that goal to 2022.

​Here’s to a happy, healthy, and productive year in 2021 in whatever endeavor you chose to pursue.