Setting Goals and Prioritizing

People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine. ~ Brian Tracy

1. Realize that goal setting is a part of the process of writing.
2. List your project goals.
   • Individual projects that need to be written.
   • Include things with definite deadlines.
   • Include things you would like to get done, but don't have a deadline
   • Post this list near your writing area or in your planner
3. Prioritize
   • What has specific deadlines?
   • How long will something take?
   • Set a due date if something doesn't have one
4. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals for the list.
   • Specific
   • Measurable
   • Attainable
   • Realistic
   • Timely
5. Set a concrete goal for each writing session.
   • Look at your SMART goal
   • Break the project into smaller parts
   • Tackle each smaller part separately

The above information is summarized from:

Silvia, P.J. (2007). How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

There is a wonderful blog post about setting a writing schedule by Megan Crowe here:

Six Steps to a Writing Schedule

Here are two great forms for charting how you are using your time:

Time Management Chart - List all your scheduled items in column one of a day, at the end of the day, write what you ACTUALLY did in column two of that day.

Time Log - Developed by Alan Chapman Consultancy to free style track your daily activities.

This entry as a handout.