Here we are on the cusp of March. One-sixth of the year is up and how goes your New Year's Resolutions? I dislike the word resolution when it comes to goals.
Every New Year before the ball drops people write down a list of things they want to change about their life. Articles spew around the internet and people flap their lips about resolutions yet nothing changes.
Let's go down the etymology rabbit hole with the word, resolution.
Resolution:
(Thank you, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=resolution).
Today, when people say they are making resolutions they seem to be anything but resolute.
Here's what normally happens:
"They" say, "I really want to lose weight. So I'll eat healthier."
After, if they're lucky, two weeks, they are back to their old junk food slinging ways. Why because they didn't break it down into pieces, know what eating healthier really looks like, and there is no real reason why they should change their troth-like ways.
Here's what one of the things on my January 1 list looks like.
Send the completed manuscript out to at least 50 literary agents. Most people would have written: I want a literary agent. Or worse yet they could have said, "I want my book to be published".
One I have control over, the first, and the other I have no say in achieving that goal. This distinction between what I can and can't do is paramount. Because I keep this in mind I'm more likely to keep up with my goals for longer.
That takes care of the how to write it up but what about the other stuff on how to actually make a resolution into reality.
I love goals. They motivate me. They push me. Why? Because I check in with them on at least a weekly basis. If my goal is to write two full-length novels at approximately 65,000 words I know I need to write 10,833 words a month or more to reach that goal. So at the beginning of each week, my goal is to write 2,708 words a week or better. Why do I keep adding the "or better" after each goal? Because I know that there will be weeks and months where I don't make the original "perfect" target number. At those times, I acknowledge that I didn't make it and revise my plan. Which is fine. I'm still on the path of achieving my dream. I'm just taste testing and adjusting the amount of salt to go in the magic I-will-finish-it sauce of success.
But that's part of my ability to keep true to at least a few of my resolutions (at least so far this year) is that I revisit and revise my timeline. And I allow it to be alright that I don't get that magic number every time I have a check-up. I made the rules and I can take a day off if I want to but I try to make it the exception and not the rule otherwise I'll never complete anything.
So how are you doing this year on your yearly goals? It's never too late to dust them off and begin again. You still have over 83% of the year left to work on them.
If you are keeping your resolutions, what's your secret ingredient? How do you keep focused? Any sage advice for the rest of us.
To achieving my dreams,
Me~lissa