He said, “To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.”
Do I agree with this? Absolutely not. Why would it be wrong to go beyond what you expect or thought you would. I think of goals and my writing. When I set one, the main focus is to not only make the stated goal but to also exceed it if at all possible. You feel good not only about making it but surpassing it.
On the opposite side, if you don’t make it you tend to beat yourself up and feel terrible about it. I’ve always been told to set a goal that will stretch you but not one that is so out of reach you set yourself up for failure.
In writing, I always try to set obtainable goals. If I surpass them, great. However, if I don’t make them I also try very hard to not beat myself up. My life tends to get a little busy between homeschooling, trying to write, my daughter’s dedication website, this website, doing the critiques for my critique partners, and then added things come up like NaNoWriMo. And these are just a few of the things happening in my life.
So goals. Do I think they are important to set in my writing? Without a doubt. However, I make sure to keep things in perspective because in the end if I’ve added to my writing or been able to edit any part of my book, then I feel like I’ve won.
How about you? Do you agree or disagree with Confucius?
Not beating yourself up when you fail to reach the goal is a very important lesson. I fail at it more than I I’d like to admit. Keep writing is my manta.
Zan Marie, I so agree with you. In life, things happen. When things don’t go as we had planned, we just need to dust ourselves off and either try again or set a new goal.