Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Succeed Through Faliure



Sooo, how is everyone's 1k a Day going? Getting your word count every day? 

(crickets)

Mine hasn't been the best either. I've been getting in about every other day. Most days I write, but I don't always achieve the 1k. Some days I have to delete so much that I get no positive word count at all.. So does that make me a failure? To some, yes. For me?   No.

I want to share with you a little bit about goals. I am not the type that often achieves my goals. It's because I set goals that are often out of reach. I tend to shoot for the stars.


Let me explain in a more presonal way.

My son has autism. Every year we sit down with his teachers and set his IEP goals. We could set nice low markers for him, to be sure of his success. Instead, we set our sights on percentages he probably won't achieve. Why is that? Because if we don't aim high, his improvements would be minimal.  It is the results that are important, not necessarily meeting the mark.  We set high expectations for him to get the highest levels of improvement. And in the end, he benefits more though his failure.

So 1k a day. I've been reading comments along the line of, "Oh, I can't do that."  I knew it would be a stretch for me, especially since I am getting back on my writing horse. Let's just say that in the last year I've had stretches, months at a time, where I've written nothing. But if I only challenged myself to 100 words a day, I would've never gotten the 1k.

So where are you aiming? How much word count do you expect of yourself? What expectations do you have on your progress, on your goals of publication? Do you only aim for things that you can see, that you know you can reach? Instead of insuring your success, why not shoot for the stars to see how far your arrow will go.



Note: Tonight is our chat on Magic Limitations. There will be awesome door prizes as well. 

Also, don't forget our Twilight contest. Tweet it out to all of your Twilight friends.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

A long time ago, I claimed the following saying as my personal motto. Even before I read your post, your picture made me think of it:

"Shoot for the moon, and, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

Elana Johnson said...

I used to be all wrapped up in word counts, but now I'm not. I used to beat myself up if I didn't write every day. Now I don't. I write when I have words inside, unless I'm specifically fasting from writing. I've learned who I am and what I can handle. And that's what I do. If it's 10 words, that's what it is.