As expected with the start of a new year, publications flood the market with articles on goal setting, planning, reviewing. As a person who likes to think medium (as opposed to big), I struggle with figuring out what I need to do to ensure a more successful year. Many successful people create loads of products, work long hours affecting family time and taking on a lot of things at once with no end in sight.

Photo credit lpierard

So my mind swims with thoughts of creating products, writing a book, getting a graduate degree, doing this and doing that. As it stands, I have little time to blog here and contribute articles to several publications. How can I think about adding some of these?

If I turn this whole goal setting and planning into a big production based on what the experts advise, I don’t think it’ll happen. At least, not for me. You argue that nothing happens without you. True. However, these suggestions overwhelm and paralyze many folks including me. For most people, they’d do nothing. As a one-person freelance shop, I need to keep it simple. And I’m sure many freelancers find themselves in the same position.

Ignore the Fancy Advice, Make Your Own Rules

The people appearing in these articles had one thing in common: passion. So, I reflected on what I love. This led to my three rules, which I cover in Drowning in Goal Setting? Go Simple along with three steps to come up with your own goals. A quick recap:

1. Keep clients happy.
2. Keep marketing.
3. Keep mind, body and spirit in check.

It’s Never Enough

Sometimes you can’t do everything you want now. It bugs me when I read articles saying to stop putting things off, stop waiting for the “right time” to start like when the kids move out. Excuse me, but if I start grad school now, it’ll sacrifice family time and break all the rules.

No. I’m going to enjoy the time I have with my kids now. They will be adults for a much longer time than they will be kids. In Success Magazine, Zig Ziglar says his success comes from “home field advantage” — meaning he makes sure things go well at home before tackling work. A happy home means a happy person outside of home.

The problem for people like me — when you make the money you want — it won’t be enough. When you accomplish XYZ, it won’t be enough. When your resume lacks an advanced degree, it won’t be enough. Instead of focusing on the destination, I pay attention to my daily journey with an occasional review of the big picture.

Some things require going with the flow and making things happen along the way. I cannot and will not over commit. To do that will negatively affect the three rules. Taking on too much will interfere with my ability to deliver great results for current clients. It also leaves little time for marketing. And an overwhelming load affects body, mind and spirit as it’d force me to sleep fewer hours and sacrifice exercise time. When one or both of these happen, it hurts the spirit.

I exercise daily. I make time for that. But it means sacrificing something else.

Simple Works

I accomplished a big personal goal in 2010. I didn’t start on January 1. I didn’t wait until January 1. Heck, I didn’t even start on the first day of the month or a Monday. I started on a Thursday at the end of March. I made up my mind and started right then. Business is like that. I watch my business and professional lives and make decisions based on what’s happening and a little temperature taking.

Of course, I don’t stand by and let life happen or pray for clients to come to me. I go for it. I ask for it. I look for it. It works without a one-page plan or specific goals such as writing three articles a day. The key is that I need a snapshot of today to decide what I’ll do tomorrow. I adapt and change as needed.

After a quick big picture and small picture review, I figured out what I could do and accomplished two things in the first week of the New Year that I hadn’t in a long time.  And I did it without complex planning. I may not be able to do this again next week because I change course as needed and the snapshot may show something different.

What are your most important rules?

• 19 Best Ads I Have Ever Seen: Wow. Impressive collection. [Link: Kottke]
• 100 Books Every Child Should Read: Grouped into three types: early years, middle years, and early teens. Mostly focused on British stuff. After all, it’s from a UK site. My third grader loved The Twits, and he doesn’t like reading. [Link: Kottke]
• How to Start Charging Your Dream Rates [Link: Freelance Folder]
• From Techrepublic: Flow chart for problem resolution and flowchart for gaming.
• History of the Harlem Globetrotters: My dad took me to see them a couple of times. I had great fun watching them live and on TV. Glad to see they’re still going strong.
• Big Think: Contains many interviews with experts in all industries. [Link: Neat New Stuff]
• Rules of Thumb: All the rules of thumb in one place. [Link: Neat New Stuff]

Writer Mama provided a great discussion topic in asking readers if they are rule breakers or rule followers in terms of working as writers. Plus, my family ran into an issue where someone who may have broken rules that affected an entire team. Breaking a rule can be a minor thing that only affects the rule breaker (cheating on a diet) or it can be huge and hurt many (Enron).

Of course, the kind of rule matters in whether you even think about breaking it. A rule could be:

• a law (no stealing)
• moral/ethical (disrespecting a parent)
• organizational (must work at least eight hours a day)
• non-spoken (don’t bombard an editor with e-mails)
• self-imposed (no eating meat)

Most of us (I would hope) abide by laws. Breaking them means punishment. Moral and ethical — depends on person’s influences that could include religion, family, friends, and environment.

Organizational rules — many people break some of the less harmful rules (no personal e-mails from work computers), but follow the standard of working the required hours. Non-spoken rules prove tricky as some of us learn them the hard way by breaking them and getting called on it, learn about it from someone else, or don’t know about it and haven’t broken it.

Self-imposed are rules of our choosing. If we break them, we only affect ourselves. Following them, however, can help us become a better person (depending on the rule) such as reading for one hour daily, exercise four times a week, and sleeping at least seven hours every night. Well, of course, the latter rule comes from medical recommendations. But that’s just it — it’s recommendations not a rule.

The Writer Mama question had me thinking about rules on a broad scale and how it affects our lives. In the discussion about breaking rules, they’re not hard and fast rules, but more self-imposed or non-spoken. In this case, we’re talking about rules that are OK to break.

For example, I tried to write a news release using a different approach from the standard release. The final version of the release turned out to be a standard one. Many articles for writer suggest doing something unconventional and grabbing the reader. But some people won’t like it while others will love it. What rules did you break that worked and didn’t work?