13 methods for achieving your writing goals

It takes intense focus to achieve professional goals—especially in the realm of writing.

Here are 13 ways you can make your own writing goals more effective:

1. Write your goals on paper. You may have heard the apocryphal tale of a Harvard Business School study in which only 3% of the graduating class had written specific goals for their future. As the story went, 20 years later this 3% was earning 10 times the amount of the group with no goals. Just one problem: the study never happened. Now, however, researcher Gail Matthews from Dominican University in Illinois and Steven Kraus from Harvard have conducted such a study. They’ve determined that writing down one’s goals makes a positive difference. (People who also have an accountability mechanism, as in tip No. 12, below, do even better.)