I actually do a lot of thinking about goal setting. That’s the easy bit. I have a list of goals as long as my arm. The part of the equation I struggle with is the completion of said goals.

Here are a few of my goals for the next six months:

1 Finish editing Something in the Water

2 Submit Something in the Water (as soon as it’s truly polished)

3 Lose a gazillion kilograms before going to UK

4 Exercise daily (to assist with #3)

5 Get our business bookkeeping and paperwork under control

6 Keep business bookkeeping and paperwork under control

7 Get the house tidy and keep it that way

8 Edit Nostalgia (Romance written June 2013)

9 Plan, prepare, write Teen/YA parallel novel set in Caithness Scotland

10 Keep writing

As you can see reader, I’ve no lack of things on my to do list. Number 11 should be learn how to stick to a schedule and maintain a routine. I found a few good tips on my cousin’s blog, hers is a teaching resource blog, and has some great info that relates to all aspects of life. Check it out here.

Some of my lack of discipline isn’t actually my lack, it’s just life and circadian rhythms or some such thing. I function best in the very early morning. So I tend to want to exercise and write and get housework out of the way all before about 8am. Unfortunately that would mean I’d have to get up before I go to bed to get anything finished. Hence, I end up with very little finished. Also running our own business is time consuming to put it mildly. If I want a social life at all, and I do, it often seems like another “job” on my already too long list.

But one of the things that makes writing difficult for me isn’t the writing itself, or even the editing. It’s feeling like I’m goofing off when I do it. That I should really be doing something else on the list. Like the bookkeeping or vacuum; walking the dog or tending the garden. At the moment I’m working on my internal chatter and reminding myself constantly that writing is working. That I’m trying to run an existing business and start a new one at the same time. Not to mention run a household pretty much single handed. So now that I’ve given myself an excuse to feel overwhelmed, instead of goofing off on Facebook, I’m going to get stuck into the bookkeeping for an hour (Yes, I’ll set a timer) and then I will do an hours work on my writing. Because as much as I love it, yes, writing is work.

Am I the only one who feels like writing is something to be done when the real work if finished? Please tell me I’m not. Do you have a hobby that you’d love to turn into a career? Do you struggle with balancing the things you want to do with the things you have to? Are you a list maker who’s perfected the art of completing projects and goals? If you are, please share your secret.