Keep track of progress #AtoZChallenge

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2015. If this is something new to you, check out the website here to find out all you need to know.

My topics this year are covering studying and/or writing advice and guidance, to maybe help you as you cope with everything else in life.

 Keep track of progress

There are so many ways to keep a track of what progress you're making towards your goals. If you've got a novel you want to get finished, then you'll be keeping an eye on that word count, if you're working on a standalone course or towards a degree, those assignment scores will keep you focused. 

Whatever method you choose, it's good to have some measure of how you're doing and what you're achieving. After all, how else are you to know if you're going in the right direction?

I try to write at least 500 words each day, and I keep a tally in my diary to see how well I keep to that goal. This exercise has also proven useful in showing what days of the week are the most productive for me.

At the start of the year I wrote down a list of objectives I wanted to achieve by the end of it, and I've broken those down into manageable tasks. I have my own review of progress after three months to see where I've done well and where I've missed my target. I can then adjust my strategy to even up the balance.

Keeping track of progress can have two opposing effects. If you're continually missing those targets it can increase the feeling of deflation and failure. But when you're hitting them, or most of them, it can be just as uplifting with a cumulative effect if you can just keep going.