Setting Goals (and Intentions) for 2023

I’m big on goal setting. I am almost always working towards a specific goal of one kind or another. As the year turns over I like to think about where I want to be a year from now, but honestly, by the time December rolls around again, I don’t really remember what I said the year before. If I had to guess, for the last 15 years, my goal for the year (every year) has been “finish this draft.” It’s more about reaffirming my intentions.

Short-Term Goals

Much more useful to me on a day-to-day basis are short-term goals. I set them all the time. I use word count goals when I’m trying to get a first draft on the page. When I’m editing (and word counts tend to go down) I focus on the amount of time I spend in my chair writing. I set goals for how much freelance work I’m going to take on each month. So come the end of December, I still check in with my long-term goals (this year it is, again, “finish this draft”), but I’ve also started choosing a word for each year, something to remind me of what I want to prioritize and focus on.

Word of the Year

I don’t remember where I picked this up. It was Covid Christmas (the first one) and I read somewhere about choosing a word for the coming year and the idea just resonated. That year I chose “BRAVE.” I knew I was going to need to be bold in coming out of my little Covid cocoon and I was right. There were many times in 2021 when I had to literally step into places I wasn’t entirely comfortable with and would think of my word and remind myself to be brave. Corny? Maybe. But it worked.

In 2022 my word was persistence. I was a few months into running my coaching business and knew I had a lot of work in front of me and that it would be easy to get discouraged, so I wrote PERSISTENCE on my chalkboard wall in big letters. It also served me well as I trudged through the final, final edits of book number two (official working title: The Weight of Unnumbered Days). 2022 was all about putting my head down, doing the work.

The Year Ahead

This year, I’m going with two words: LEVEL UP. I’m starting a new novel that scares me because it’s unlike anything I’ve written before, I’m getting back into running (short term goal – 5K in March), and I’m working to expand my coaching program and work with more writers. All of these things are requiring me to up my game a bit and sustain that effort.

A few other words were contenders. I thought maybe GROWTH (but in terms of health I’m actually trying to do the opposite – I’m still working off those Covid pounds). I thought about EXPAND (but same issue). I resisted LEVEL UP at first because, you know, it’s actually two words, which felt like cheating, but ultimately I decided that I get to make my own rules here. LEVEL UP it is.

I like because it speaks to a gradual increase in challenge. I can level up over and over again. Like in a video game. Every time I hit one of my short term goals, I can up the challenge. 10K by June anyone?

Do you have a word for 2023? Or are you a more formal goal setter? What does the year ahead look like for you? Drop a note in the comments and share your thoughts.

Happy New Year!