Alex.J.Cobalt

Social media, along with a fun mix of “look how much this person achieved before they were 30!” media stories, has created an invisible expectation on anyone trying to achieve any goal that you simply must achieve those goals as fast as possible.

“So and So person made their own business by the time they were twenty one”

“So and So other person sold their first book at aged 24 and has now sold six”

“So and So third person is  making multi-millions out of their book deals.”

And so on, and so on.

It’s only been recently (and being cooped up at home has helped this), that I’ve realised this “must achieve the goal as soon as possible” idea is quite frankly, rubbish. Sure, it’s good to have goals. And definitely sure, it’s good to want to achieve those goals by a particular point.

But you don’t have to give up every ounce of yourself to do it.

Life, I find, like writing, is a journey. You might plan to finish up in a particular place, but lo an behold other things come up which direct your journey in a new way. Maybe it’s a new relationship, a new location, a new job. Doesn’t matter what it is, these things happen.

And you know what? That’s life.

Deep down I knew my writing goals were unachievable. Writing a complete draft before the end of 2020, whilst doing some significant house DIY and juggling a full time job was asking a lot of myself. And whilst I’ve had months of really productive writing stints, other months have had different priorities. Most of the time, if I’m honest, that priority was simply resting from everything else that had I had been doing.

Whilst brings me back to today, and this opinion piece. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, with thousands of other things on their plate, trying to juggle multiple goals and obligations simultaneously.

So I want to say to you, dear person, whose in the same position as me: it’s okay if you don’t finish all of your goals now. Or in the next five years. Or even the next ten years.

Taking longer to achieve something does not lessen the nature of that achievement. If you have to scale back you writing time to once or twice a week, whereas before it was every night, then you can do that. It might take you longer to reach your goal, but you’ll be able to keep up the routine much more productively.

How do you go about setting your goals? Do you think your goals need some re-adjustement?

Featured Image Photo by Larisa Birta on Unsplash

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