Where would we be without goals? Now, some might argue we’d be better balanced and less stressed if we were more focussed on the journey than obsessed with an arbitrary endpoint. But not I; I need goals, something to focus the mind, and then feel bad about when I fail to keep to them.

Weekly Goals

Normally, I’d start my creative week on a Saturday, that way I could hopefully start the week with a few successes under my belt, instead of trying to cram it in at the last minute. It takes the pressure off for the rest of the week. But my home and work planning needs to go from Mondays, so join me in a panicked weekend catch-up?

Take Five Four Tasks and See Me Next Week

Five tasks per week seemed unrealistic to me right now, balanced with the demands of work and home. Four may seem low to some, but it’s a starting point, but I neither want to low-ball it, nor make the goal utterly unattainable.

  • Write 200 creative words, or 1 script page
  • Do 1 hour development work, including rewrites
  • Write 1 blogpost
  • Read 1 screenplay from Scott Myer’s Deep Focus list
  • Watch 1 movie from the watch list
  • Do 1 hour active studying, e.g. an online course, or a chapter of a craft book
  • Attend 1 networking event
  • 1 photo posted to the Dogwood Challenge 2019
  • 1 gym visit

Clearly some of those things are not like the others, but I do want to try and get back into photography a little, albeit as a hobby, and I need to go to the gym more. Currently I’m paying monthly for a gym I’ve only visited three times since the autumn.

Annual Goals

The above are of course micro goals, piecemeal activities to keep my brain engaged and creative. But there are macro goals as well for 2019

  • Watch more new movies than in 2018, which was 29
  • Full pitch document and revised script for Maestro
  • One polished feature film script
  • And…

One Short Film

  • Written
  • Pre-produced
  • Shot

My aim is to get this shot in late summer, to be realistic, so I need to keep some vacation time aside. I have an idea, but I need to write and polish and rewrite and workshop this until it has a high gleam.

I’ve been talking about this for years, it’s time to get it done.