Be in Charge of Your Writing Plan

I will teach you the 10-5-1 technique that I learned from my friend and leadership trainer, Greg Norte, owner and founder of Armada Training Solutions. The 10-5-1 technique is about Structure, and will help you develop a strong plan of action.

I’ll cover some guidelines to goal setting. Then I will explain and illustrate the 10-5-1 process.

Start here: let’s make our goals SMART. As one of my clients, Fred Bauer of Abundance Business Coaching, explains in his forthcoming book:

Specific – Be very specific about your goal or goals. You could say, “Write a book,” or you could be more specific and say, “I’m going to write a long comedic fantasy novel that’s a cross between Douglas Adams, and Patrick O’Brien.”

Measurable – Make sure you can measure your goal so you know when you have achieved it. Count your words, pages, or your time, or some combination of the three.

Achievable – State your goal in the present or past tense as if you have already achieved it, making especially sure the goal is achievable. Is it realistic for you to expect you can write your novel in three months. Maybe, if you’re an experienced fiction writer and you’ve already done that. More achievable for a first time novelist may be one year, it may be five, as it was for me.

Results-oriented – Will the work you do lead to results that you value? Finishing a book, writing a book, outlining a book are all steps that lead to the result of having written a book.

Time – Have a specific date on when your goal will be achieved. Give your project a deadline that you can mark on the calendar.