Making Bi-Monthly Goals Work For You — Derek Barton — 2019

Back in late July of 2017, I started working with the concept for Bi-monthly Goals introduced to me by Kristen Martin in her Youtube video: How To Crush Your Goals in 2017 + My Jan and Feb Bimonthly Goals.

With little tweaks and experimenting with my own additions, I obtained my best production and career momentum ever in 2018! I managed to go from producing one novel a year to producing last year a novel and two novellas while increasing my posts in a weekly blog and a monthly newsletter. More than doubling my word count productivity.

I wanted to write out and give you the scoop of my research:

• What are Bi-Monthly Goals?  Concise goals written specifically with clear expectations, a set prioritization and a detailed impact to your objective all with a two-month deadline. By deciding where you want to go, how to get there and when you are going to make it happen, the goal’s success and outcome are almost a given. Be exact and as realistic as you can be when developing these goals in order to have a satisfactory and critical improvement outcome. The purpose of the goal is to be obtainable and to further you along in getting to your overall desired dream. Take time to think of what you really want with that goal, see it in your mind how you can do it and visualize what it will do for you by accomplishing that goal.
• How many Bi-Monthly Goals should you make in the two months?  I have tried to push myself and have around ten to twelve goals. Other times, I have lowered the pressure and gone down to less than five goals. It is really determined by you and what you can handle.  Also, don’t be afraid to shift the number about to account for busier times in your life — like if holidays are going to interfere then prepare for them.  The outcome is not to have the most listed goals, but to have the most completed and successful goals set up.
• Why do you need to prioritize them?  As often with “to-do lists”, one tends to wander or scatter their efforts on several goals at the same time or work the easiest first. To have a prioritization factor on the goal, it helps keep you focused on the biggest and most important items. I set the prioritization as Highest Priority,  Important Priority and Least Priority.  Working the priorities as ranked has the highest chance of success. Meaning if I can accomplish my Highest and Important Priorities then I can still get minor goals completed in the timeframe.  However, if the Highest Priority is still sitting there near the end of the two months, I know I should not even think about spending energies on the Least Priority objectives.
• How do I score my success with the Bi-Monthly Goals?  Completing all of the goals in the two-month timeframe, of course, is a “100% Win”, but often, factors and unforeseen events will come up and interfere with your plan.  I shoot for the “100% Win”, but realistically 85% is the common “Win Success”. Be flexible, be patient and always remain confident that these goals can be completed the next two months — there is no failure!  Highest Priority percentage is 25%, Important percentage is 15% and Least Priority would be 10%. In example, if I were to have five goals at 90% = (2 of the Highest, 2 of the Important and 1 of the Least Priority goals) set as my Bi-Monthly Goals and I completed 2 of the Highest and 1 of the Important (65%) then overall it is a “72% Win”.  To be a successful “Win” then I would have had to complete 2 Highest and 2 Important then I’d have 80% of the 90% which comes to “89% Win”. Yes, it is easy to slip in a Least Priority goal, but it is important to follow your priority ranking so as to be sure you are making the most of your time that you have and accomplishing the items that most matter to you!

Bi-Monthly Goals are incredible motivators as well as a rough draft guide to your overall business/writing plans for the future. These simple milestones will advance you in small baby steps every two months to acquiring bigger and better dreams and objectives at the end of the year that you’d never thought could happen for you!