A New Year's Resolution

 “No one ever keeps their New Year’s Resolutions.” The pastor who stated this listed all the things that people put on their resolutions list that almost all end before the end of January. He even gave statistics of the low percentages of people keeping their resolutions. I have no idea what else he said because I decided right there and then I would prove him and all those statistics wrong. I would keep a New Year’s Resolution all year long. 

That pastor spoke in the end of 2014, and when the New Year began in 2015, I began on my resolution…to write every single day. On December 31, 2015, I had written for all 365 days of the year. So, what did I do that year that made it different from other years? I set up perimeters so I wouldn’t quit, even if I did miss a day, which I didn’t that year. 

I set a perimeter that if I did miss a day of writing, I would pick up the next day and continue my year of writing. This perimeter helped me a few times in the last eight years, even if I didn’t use it in 2015. The difference began the moment I switched my thinking of missing a day would be a failure to miss a day and pick it up the next day and not give up on the entire idea of my ultimate goal. The idea is to not give up. 

The other part of keeping that resolution required an end goal. To keep a resolution, you have to have an ultimate end goal. You can’t just do a resolution without an end goal. You keep your focus on that end goal. I wanted to write every single day because I had heard published authors and produced screenwriters say in every seminar that they write every single day. The one thing that improves writing is to do it every day. My end goal was to finish a book and get published. I did finish writing the first draft of that book. 

For any goal, you have to practice every day, but if you miss a day, you cannot just quit. You must continue where you stopped and pick it up from there. Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight, became a professional musician, an artist, a baker or chef, or sports player has perfected their craft with working on it every single day. 

Don’t listen to the naysayers. Don’t listen to those who would rather you not reach your ultimate goal. They don’t have ambition, so they don’t want you to work on yours. Set goals for the New Year. Then write down the steps that you can do every single day to reach that goal. 

Make the goal doable. I didn’t set a goal that required me to sit and write for a specific time every day or even at a specific time. With my schedule with teaching, that cannot always be attained. I made my goal simple that first year. I challenged myself to write every day. I made other perimeters. I didn’t want my writing to be in my journal, my quiet time journal, or any lists. It had to be writing that would further my career in writing. 

Along with making my daily task attainable, I created a path for myself to do the task when I could. I would either write first thing in the morning or when I returned home. Make your goal attainable for you to reach with your lifestyle. 

That year I wrote every day for the first time in my writing career. It would begin a new habit for me. In fact, the habit of writing every single day developed by the end of January. Habits begin when you set a goal that you can attain. It became more than a challenge. It became something that I had to do every single day, like brushing my teeth. 

Make 2024 the year that you accomplish one goal. Whether you do something every day, or every week, or every month to reach that goal, make a resolution to achieve that goal. With every goal that you attain, the more you will grow and change. The more you grow and change as a person, you will have the change you want to see in 2024. Happy New Year!