“New Year, New You!” is a marketing tactic for gyms and fitness clubs, meal prep/delivery services, clothing retailers, and more. “This year, make a resolution to…” followed by a sales pitch for everything from home cleaning services, furniture stores, and even higher education institutions advertising shortened degree or certificate programs to entice adults looking to further their education.
I don’t make “resolutions” anymore. At one point, I realized they were a setup for failure. Saying you resolve to, for example, exercise five days a week, the first week you only exercise four days you feel defeated and stop trying to pursue that resolution. Many people don’t stop to think about the thing that held them back that week. Did a colleague have an emergency and need a shift covered? Did you neglect to account for an appointment you didn’t transfer to your calendar? Did you just not feel like it? There are an array of reasons, all legitimate, that you may not have been able to exercise on that fifth day. But it’s nothing to get down on yourself about, or simply stop because you didn’t succeed.
Instead, I make goals. As a writer, this year one of my biggest goals is to publish my debut novel by the end of the first quarter. It may seem far away, but as I learn more and more about self-publishing, I realize there are other things that I will have to do myself. I won’t bore you with the details here, but I learned a few things that need to be added, and some steps that need to be taken before I can push “publish” on Amazon, or put my book up on another publishing platform.
Another goal is to expand my Substack page to offer paid member bonus content. That will take some doing, as I have to brainstorm some things that are worthy of such status. What would you pay for? Behind-the-scenes? A tour of my workspaces? Special short story content? The best ideas will come from responding to what you, my readers, want.
Still another goal of mine is to continue writing business blogs, and add more. Last year, I ended my relationship with company that provided blog and website content for property management companies. I was able to pivot fairly quickly into writing a blog for a custom home design company. That company wants me for an additional blog for another branch of their company under another name in another location. No, this won’t necessarily take away from this blog or my novel writing. I write, then I schedule each blog to release on a certain date at a certain time (typically every Wednesday at 2 p.m.)
There are still other goals that will likely roll over into 2026 as well – yes, I have an entire year planned. How, you ask? A program called Fresh Start that is hosted by one of the writing communities I am a part of. It’s a free, week-long course that meets via daily Zoom calls from the day after Christmas until New Year’s Day. It covers everything, from setting goals (both writing and personal), gives tips and examples of effective methods, and offers you ways to keep yourself accountable. The workshop teaches you how to account for all of your “static” time, like your 9-5 job outside of writing, appointments, family activities, school, and all the other parts of life that can’t be put on hold.
I found this program last year, and it changed my life. While my plan was to publish my debut novel by the end of 2024, life got in the way. But I made it further than I ever have before, and I learned that goal setting and amending is the way to go rather than resolutions. I found a planner I love that I will be getting every year I possibly can until the company stops making it.
I plan to continue applying the principles to every part of my life to get even more done for 2026.
How do you prepare to achieve your goals in the upcoming year? What are those goals? Let’s talk on Facebook!