Setting goals and reaching them is a huge marker for success. And we absolutely need to have something to strive for. That’s how we actually get where we want to go instead of wandering around letting life happen to us, right?

While setting goals is great, we can’t always let reaching them be the only way that we feel like we’ve accomplished something.

I always encourage my clients to set writing goals when they want to finish a book in a certain amount of time. Want to write a book in 3 months? If you want the final product to be around 30,000 words, that means you need to write about 10,000 words per month. That breaks down to roughly 2,000–2,500 words per week.

Pretty simple, right?

Sometimes it isn’t though. Sure, the math makes it easy to plan, but if you get sick or have a busy week with the family, that can throw off your goal. Plus, we’ve all had times when we were too annoyed, frazzled, tired, or whatever to write during our allotted time.

Then what?

Instead, this is what I suggest.

That can not only throw off your goal or wrapping up writing by a certain date, but it can also make you feel rushed to cram in more writing sessions, longer writing sessions, or just whatever verbiage spills out of your fingertips just to meet your writing goals.

Don’t get attached to the outcome of your writing sessions.

If you meet your goal, then great! Reward yourself with a gold star, a massage, or whatever keeps you inspired to press on. If you don’t meet your goal, though, don’t sweat it. Every day is a new day to work on that goal.

I’m sure you have someone in your Facebook feed who is a health and wellness coach. And what do they say about cheating with a piece of pizza or a cookie? They always tell you not to sweat it. That was one treat. One meal. It doesn’t need to wreck your plans.

The same goes with writing (or, well, any goal that you set). It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just trust the process. If you aren’t attached to the outcome of your writing sessions—i.e. you aren’t beating yourself up every time you undercut the word count or end up chopping out an entire page you wrote because it went off track—you will be happier, calmer, and more productive in the long run.

Remember that the mini-goals you set like word count are just milestones to the bigger picture. If you’re driving to the beach and you end up taking a little longer with lunch and stopping a couple extra times for bathroom breaks, do you hate yourself for bringing your kids along or for ordering a coffee? Probably not. You’ll still get to the beach. It might take a little longer, but the beach isn’t going anywhere. Your book goal will still be there when you’re ready too.

Remember progress, not perfection, is how you complete the book. Leave the perfecting part to your editor.