For the past few years I've wanted to increase my creative output, especially in writing. However this year I decided to really try and set it in motion using [SMART](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria) goals. Doing this, I managed to write at least one blog post and one post for [ScorpInc](http://scorpinc.solutions/) every month for the entire year.

## Goal Setting

SMART goals are relatively simple, it's an acronym that refers to the following useful attributes of a goal:

* Specific - goal must have defined criteria
* Measureable - goals must be easily measureable to ensure whether you have completed it
* Achievable - goals must be realistic, attainable
* Relevant - goals should be relevant to what you want to achieve
* Time-bound - goals must be completed within a set time period

I also like to swap out the ***R*** for "Rewardable", as personal goals should have some kind of reward (not necessarily financial/material) to help goad you into completing them.

Every six months (in January and July) I set myself a goal to write a personal and ScorpInc blog each month for a half-year. I had a [goal-setting journal from Kikki.K](https://www.kikki-k.com/au/shop-by/goals-journal-vintage-rose-essentials-11179702.html) that I used to track my writing goals (along with all my other goals) and listed my reasoning, the dates I wanted everything completed by, and a suitable reward for doing it. Some months, I also included a goal around writing entries in my writing journal on a weekly basis.

I then tracked it every month, making sure to include whenever I wrote a blog post for my website or completed an entirely new draft for ScorpInc.

## Writing

The writing itself varied in difficulty over the year. I was strongly affected by other factors like my depression and schizophrenia, my time management and motivation, and periods of bountiful ideas and at times a dearth of them. I found it easiest when I was also working on other projects, as I could do write-ups on the success/failure of the project and my learnings, as well as small posts based on troubleshooting and solving problems that I encountered.

The purely creative side on ScorpInc was fun, although I feel anxious about starting a post, worried I won't have enough words to flesh out an idea. I was previously often stuck for ideas as well, but now have been keeping a list of them for future posts that has made it easier. Once that stuck as a positive change, I started doing the same thing for my blog and journal too, meaning I could always fall back and find something to rely on if I was stuck.

I've found this a wonderful exercise overall in terms of:

* Getting my writing flowing more often,
* Writing with a pen and paper for my journal,
* And being more creative and verbose with some ScorpInc and other fiction ideas.

I think I'll want to continue this next year, probably repeating the same process and have extra goals for writing in my journal regularly. It'd be nice to fill up a whole journal or notebook with handwritten words at some point.