(c) Jessica Gale
New year. New resolutions. New goals. New dreams. New commitments. New you. New me. At the flip of the calendar from December to January, everyone tries to reinvent themselves. New annual goals and measures are defined to be attained in the coming year. It’s a rather good practice for one to expand upon their life experiences and to plan for growth. However, within a few short weeks, most plans are derailed and the focus is lost on the “New Year’s Resolution”.
How does one stay on track and keep moving closer to established goals? For starters, set a realistic goal that can be achieved within a set time frame. Let me restate that — set a REALISTIC goal. Yes, I am all for dreaming big, but you are starting out the year new and fresh. Begin with something small that is easily achievable. Focus working on that initial small goal. Once obtained, set your next goal, a little bigger this time, and progress to reach that one. Establish larger goals with each smaller one that is achieved. This process will help you keep focused without feeling like you have taken on more than you can chew.
Not only should you set realistic goals, but you should be realistic in your expectations. Again – dream, dream, dream, but remember to ground yourself every now and then. If you don’t, you are setting yourself up for heartbreak if you fail. And you know what? There is a good chance that you will fail at some point. We all will. We are human. This is life. Think about what constitutes real life experience. Would life be that enjoyable if we got everything we wanted when we wanted it? The thrill would be taken out of everything we do should all of our desires come to hand with a snap of a finger. You have to work hard, you have to fail, you have to get back on your feet, you have to continue on. To you writers out there who are wallpapering your walls with rejection letters, keep going! Don’t let rejection be a deterrent. Rejection is quintessential in the reality of publication. A rejection means that the publisher at that moment in time was not meant for you. If you stop submitting now, that’s a surefire way to never have any of your work accepted and you’ll be left sitting around with an unpublished manuscript. By submitting, you are getting your name out there. People are noticing you. Don’t ever give up! Your day is coming and you will shine like the sun!
Keep pushing yourself and don’t expect instant gratification. Life is a long road. If you receive everything that you want as soon as you wanted it, the experience in achievement will be lost. You won’t really honor the goal that you attained because you didn’t have to go through the trials to get to it.
Goals are meant to make us work, worry, stress, cry, and scream. But goals are also meant to make us grow, dream, smile, and be happy. Resolutions are the best ways to start with a fresh dream. In this new year of 2016, kick off your plan to achieving your dreams. Stay motivated and keep focus. This is your year!
I have my 2016 writing resolution, do you have yours? If so, comment below.
The Sarcastic Muse 
I agree that we value more that which we work for hardest. Good timing on the reasonable goals, too. I’m headed into edits again. 🙂
Edits = progression!
Happy 2016, Amanda. It’s funny that you said, “Life is a long road”, because just yesterday I told someone, “Fiction is a marathon. You’ve got to be in it for the long haul.” Great post and I’m so glad TSMs are back!
Happy 2016 to you too, Marcy! That’s a great quote — fiction is a marathon! Exhausting at times, the struggle to make it to the end is oh so worth it.
We are happy to be back.
“If you stop submitting now, that’s a surefire way to never have any of your work accepted” – So true for all goals. If YOU give up, it’s over.
Game over! Don’t ever give up, Dan!
Aloha Amanda.
Good post! I’ve dutifully set my writing goals for the year and posted them publicly. Robyn even said some kind words abut them. That made me feel smug and satisfied … for a few minutes.
Then I realized that writing is what I ‘want’ to do but there are other things I ‘have’ to do. Setting out what I want to do is one thing, figuring out how to do it is quite another. Unless I get a plan for protecting my writing time those goals will just be pipe dreams.
I’m working on it.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne
A plan will help you achieve that balance between what you “want” to do and what you “have” to do. Your plan is the protection your writing time needs so as not be consumed by the other daily life “things” that need to be accomplished.
Best of luck to you in you planning and writing, Wayne! Please keep us posted on how you are progressing with things. We love to hear about what our muses are working on.
Uplifting, realistic, and inspiring, Amanda 🙂 Great advice that will help all your readers and creative types to set and reach their goals this year.
For me, perhaps a bit lofty, but not unrealistic – I seek to establish a new author website and self-publish my first full-length novel 🙂 It isn’t that much of a stretch since the manuscript is written. I just need to traverse those murky waters of the editorial process and pre-publication marketing. Looking forward to it though!
And, by the way, since we have shared our own writing goals, what be yours? Quid pro quo 🙂
Fantastic goals, Dave! I am very much looking forward to your first novel. Please do keep us posted on your progress.
For me… it is trying to get back into the writing habit and *hopefully* get the first draft of my novel complete this year.
Dave, all the best on your goals. If you need any guidance on crossing the dark waters of the self-publishing Styx, we have our resident expert and ferrywoman in the form of Robyn LaRue.
Just as an FYI… she prefers to be paid with chocolates over the eyes instead of coins.
Happy New year, Amanda! And good to see you are writing again.
Happy New Year, Peter! You and I have lots of words and worlds to build this year!
From what I understand of mythology, reaching for the sun didn’t fair too well for Icarus. As for writing resolutions, mine is to get more consistent with my posts both on here and on my own blog.
But Icarus still flew, and he needed to see how far he could go. You never knows the anwer as to how far you can fly until you try. And when you fall, just get yourself back up, dust off your wings, and try to fly again.
Here is to consistancy this year for you and me both! Cheers!