Work & Live Smarter in 2016

Being SMART in 2016

I was reading my local newspaper the other day and came across a write-up of author Angela Marsons and her new novel Lost Girls, which got to the top of the Amazon murder fiction chart.

The thing that struck me more than anything was that her ‘sudden success’ is the result of 25 hard years of writing, submissions and rejections.

I can relate to that, back in the 80’s it was never the done thing to submit to more than one publisher at a time and so I would send my manuscripts off and then wait. You were lucky to get the story posted out more than two or three times a year, this then bounced back with a rejection and it would all start again. It took me around twelve years to get my first book published and even after the next three published books, it’s still never guaranteed that another book will ever be published.

Know your goals for 2016

The acronym SMART = Specific, Manageable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

If you’ve ever worked in education or business and marketing you will use this term a lot – you might know it as Specific, Manageable, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant/Relative and Time-bound/Time-framed, at the end of the day you can call it anything you please so long as you make a goal and stick to it!

Diagram of SMART GOAL

Example:

I can say that my SMART goal this year is to sell 1,000 books (any title).

Specific? Yes – by December 31st, 2016 I will have sold 1,000 of the books that I’ve written.

Manageable? – I think so – with hard work, promotion and marketing and by making sure my writing is of a good standard and I have a selection of books available, what’s to stop me?

Achievable? Yes – I haven’t said something outlandish like I want to be an Astronaut in the next 12 months or set out to achieve something that is nigh on impossible at my age.

Realistic? Same answer – to sell 1,000 books is a realistic target.

Time-bound? I have set an achievable time of 31st December 2016. It’s a definite date and one to work to. Don’t leave this one dangling, it’s very important. If you just say you’ll sell 1,000 books it could mean this year, next year or in the next twenty years. If these steps aren’t adhered to, you’ll probably accomplish things but never have any idea of ‘when’ it’s going to occur.

So there you are – get your SMART goals set for this year and here’s wishing you every success with them!