Setting goals: When you think you're not making progress fast enough, try this.
Convinced you're not moving forward on your top creative goals? Try adding a “done” list to that to-do list. You might surprise yourself in more ways than one.
A year ago, I sat down to type up my a list of goals—creative projects I most wanted to accomplish during the year. It’s a ritual I carry out annually with four set steps:
Review last year’s plan and ask myself, “How did I do?”
Fixate on my failures.
Commence self-flagellation.
Sigh, create a new goal list, and place prominently on computer desktop.
This is a well-honed process, one always accompanied by my vervant vows to “work harder!” and “be more focused!”
But last year, when I finished creating my goal list, something new happened: an enveloping dizziness descended. It felt something like this:
Instinctively, I knew the reason: My 2025 goal list included something I’d never attempted: opening an exhibit at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
Where did I start to make this a possibility? It was all a fog, with only a few vague ideas of how to begin. I listed them, under the goal. (Mostly where to turn for help, like: “Get an intro to that UMass professor who advises local museums.”)
But once I did list those few items, the dizziness lessened. Hmmm… I decided to add a few “next steps” to all my goals. And something shifted.
Turning my goal list into a living document changed everything. I could start each workday by opening the goal document, choosing a “next step,” and doing it.
Identifying that small next step turned out to be transformational (because Pride and Prejudice might be the downfalls of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, but mine are Paralysis and Procrastination).
Weeks rolled by. As I completed a “next step,” I crossed it out. A few months into 2025, with all the cross-outs, my list had gotten messy:
To more clearly see what I next needed to do, I pasted all the crossed-out completed items to the end of the document, under the subhead “Done.”
Turned out, this system was all I needed. Not that “productivity app” that once tempted me. Not learning the five-step workflow process of that Getting Things Done guy.
The system worked so well, the other day I decided to do it again this year. I opened last year’s goal list, and something struck me: Of the document’s 11 pages, 10 fell under that “Done” subhead. I realized three things:
Despite what I’d not accomplished (writing a new novel), a whole hell of a lot had gotten done: I’d opened the museum exhibit in October; published seven articles; and launched this Substack.
Of those 10 pages under “Done,” half were items accomplished for museum exhibit. Conclusion: maybe I was an exhibit neophyte in January 2025, but not now.
The museum-centered portion of the “Done” section could have a new life in 2026: as a blueprint for the new, bigger exhibit I’ve been hired to do.
And realizing these three things I realized one more: that meme of frantically spinning plates had been replaced by another:
(P.S. I’d love to hear about your tactics and tricks for organizing projects and meeting goals!)
I love this idea. While I enjoy throwing away to-do lists where all the tasks are completed, it's a good idea to keep a running tab of accomplishments. Satisfying! Thanks
PS: Another thought. A wise woman talked to me about the value of celebrating our "wins". Not just celebrating as in "bravo! Let's brag and party!" but celebrating them by exploring and acknowledging what strength allowed you to achieve that win/accomplish that goal. And what obstacles you overcame to get there. I found that pretty interesting as well!