300 to 3,000: Balancing Ambition and Self-Care

I recently started working on a secret project that I will be excited to share with you sometime next year. I am not going to give any hints, but I will tell you that I had to set some sort of goal for myself to finish it. One portion of the project involves a bit of writing, so I looked up how to set daily writing goals. Some websites recommended writing 1,600 words per day, while other sites suggest taking it easy with a simple 300 words. One man wrote on a forum that he is able to reach 3,000 words per day. I am not claiming to be an overly skilled writer, but I do want to remain ambitious and challenge myself. So I thought about how many words a person should strive to write each day if they are aiming for a pretty high word count. I thought about 2,000 words; but that seemed too tough for a rough day when I would barely get by. Then I considered 1,000 or even 750 and thought I would not be challenging myself enough. Eventually it hit me. I am going to show myself "grace[,] not perfection" (Emily Ley 2016). That is how I decided to give myself a very large buffer with a 300 to 3,000 word goal.

If you are trying to tackle a gargantuan writing assignment, I highly recommend writing 300 to 3,000 words per day. The 300 word minimum will seem so attainable, that even on your roughest days, you will still be able to jot down a few words. But most days, you will fly past that minimum and exceed one person's recommended 1,600 words. I surely have appreciated showing myself a bit of grace, and I am sure you will too. Keep chasing your dreams friends, you will get there one step (whether large or small) at a time!

*Feel free to save the image used in this post and display it in your work space. This picture hangs on the wall across from my desk and daily reminds me of my goal. Even if you are not working on a writing assignment, let it serve as a reminder that though stronger on some days but not others, every bit we do moves us closer to achieving our goals.