Page 18 - JulyWAM

Goal Setting and Accountability

Scott Krajca, CPC, CHT

Have you ever had a big goal but never followed through because it seemed to big with too many pieces?
Have you ever wondered how “successful” people achieve their goals?

Goal Setting
It’s safe to say that many people that have “made it” or are successful, have had some sort of a goal (or goals).
Goals can be a range of sizes, difficulty, and durations to achieve. We will talk about the different sizes of goals
and how to tackle them in your goal setting as it relates to songwriting.

Big Goals
A Big Goal (Big Dream) is something that will require a huge amount of your time, effort and talents. Big
goals look something like:
- Within two years, I will be a sought-after songwriter, writing for at least (3) artists in the Top 40 Pop
charts
- Within three years, I will have (3) songs that have hit #1 on the Country charts
- Five years from now, I will have (10) Top 10 hits, a successful team of co-writers, a long list of students
learning from me, and best-selling book on songwriting

As you can see from the examples above, these are Big Goals because they are not only expecting a high level
of success, but there is a timeframe associated with them. The timeframe is key in my book. Not because you
have to hit the timing perfectly, but it makes the goal “more real.” If you were to just say, “I am going to write
three number hits” but with no timeframe associated with it, you could allow yourself to slip and slide and
delay all day long. The goal will seem elusive for possibly your whole life. Would you want that?

Medium and Small Goals
I am lumping these types of goals together because they typically enable your Big Goals. These types of goals
are typically something that you can achieve in a day, a week, or over a few months. They enable you to con-
tinue climbing up the mountain to reach your Big Goal. Here are some examples:
- I will co-write one song by the end of next week
- I will complete five draft songs for my next EP by the end of June
- I will complete one work tape of a song per month so I have a total of (12) songs by the end of the year

Again, notice the element of time in each of the medium or smaller goals. Each of these smaller goals should
be linked back to your Big Goal.

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