I did it! You did it! We did it! We made it to the final day of #BlogLikeCrazy!

Each November I challenge myself and any blogger who wants to play along to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days. I started this challenge in 2012 on my personal blog, but after the women of the See Jane Write community were so excited about the challenge I started hosting and carrying out the challenge on the See Jane Write blog instead.

I know that blogging every day for 30 days is, well, crazy! It’s called #BlogLikeCrazy for a reason! But it’s also very rewarding. This challenge has given women the motivation to launch or relaunch their blogs and helped women write blog posts that were later used to write a book. #BlogLikeCrazy helped one See Jane Write Collective member land a spread in a magazine.

Furthermore, #BlogLikeCrazy has helped me grow the See Jane Write community and has helped me rediscover the joy of blogging whenever I felt stuck in rut.

But #BlogLikeCrazy has also taught me a lot about goal setting. With the New Year — and a new decade — approaching, goal setting is definitely on my mind and it’s probably on yours, too.

Here’s what #BlogLikeCrazy has taught me about goal setting and how to accomplish my goals.

It’s easier to accomplish your goals when you have focus.

When I look back at big things I’ve accomplished in my life — whether it was blogging every day for a month, exercising every day for a year, doing a TEDx Talk, or quitting my job to be a full-time writerpreneur — the key to my success has been FOCUS! I made that particular goal my top priority and that’s why I was able to achieve it. So no matter what else came up, no matter what else life brought my way, I knew I was still going to do what needed to be done to accomplish that goal.

This is why in 2020 I’m setting fewer writing, blogging, and business goals than I normally do. Fewer goals means it will be easier to focus. And where focus goes, energy flows.

It’s easier to accomplish your goals when you have friends.

To be honest, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t complete the #BlogLikeCrazy challenge each year if I weren’t at the helm. Knowing that all of the other bloggers participating are expecting me to lead by example motivates me to keep going and keep posting. Being accountable to someone other than yourself can help you accomplish the things you set out to do. That’s why when I challenged myself to exercise every day for a year I announced it on my blog, my social media channels, and even in an interview I did on public radio!

Having a group of folks to cheer you on along the way helps, too. That’s why I posted daily #BlogLikeCrazy threads in the See Jane Write Network Facebook group this year and threads for those doing the National Novel Writing Month challenge, too.

It’s easier to accomplish your goals when you have fun!

I started this year’s #BlogLikeCrazy challenge with all 30 posts for the month planned and plotted, but I abandoned my editorial calendar about a week into the challenge. I just started writing about whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and I loved it! My readers seemed to love it, too. Those posts are the ones that got the most comments on social media or via email.

This is a good reminder to not get so focused on our destination that we forget to enjoy the journey. I’m carrying this lesson with me into 2020. If I’m having fun while I’m going after my goals it won’t matter if I accomplish them all by the end of the year. I’ll still be living my best life!

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On December 15 I am hosting a virtual goal setting and planning workshop to help you set your goals for 2020 and develop a plan for accomplishing them. Sign up for my email list so you’ll be notified once all the details are ready.

And if you also completed the #BlogLikeCrazy challenge this year, leave a link to your blog in the comments.