It’s that time of year when people share their resolutions for the next year. (Or proclaim how silly resolutions are!)
The problem with resolutions is most lists look like this:
- Lose weight.
- Learn another language.
- Travel to 5 different countries…maybe even 10!
- Write and sell some kind of book.
- Make an additional $50,000.
- Do something “crazy.”
- Learn how to make sushi.
- Learn how to paint portraits.
- Learn another language!
- Be a better person.
The Problem With Long Lists
The problem with long lists is they become overwhelming. Within the opening weeks of a new year, they can make you feel overwhelmed.
Long lists of resolutions are nice, but shorter lists actually work!
The Other Problem With Lists
If you look at the made-up list above, there’s a big problem with it: some of the things simply can’t be done in the span of a year — especially when all piled on top of each other. And…there’s also no indication of how these things will get done.
“Lose weight” is a biggie, one that ends up on many people’s list of resolutions. But there’s a problem with that resolution: it’s vague.
It’s important to be more specific:
“Hit the gym 4 times a week and lose 5 pounds a month until losing 20 pounds,” is something tangible with the goal built right in!
If you make a long list of resolutions, do your best to write how you’ll reach a specific goal into each thing you want to accomplish.
The List of One
When I make lists, I try to keep them to 1 – 3 things. Once I accomplish those few things, I move on to the other things I would have included in a longer, overwhelming list.
But the list that gets the most attention is my list of one.
When I look at 2011’s writing goals, it’s important to pick one thing that I want to do more than anything else.
While I plan to release a couple e-books based on The Juggling Writer material, turn the novel from the podcast into an e-book (and maybe a print-on-demand book), start a Juggling Writer podcast, hopefully get an agent and sell my current novel, and do so many other things — above everything — there’s one thing I want to do most: finish my next novel!
If I do nothing else in 2011, I want a readable draft of what I have planned next done by December 31, 2011.
If I see no progress on that one goal each month in 2011 — if I find myself working on the blog and other writing-related things because they’re easier — I’ll be missing the thing I want most from writing in 2011.
By focusing on one thing above all others, I’ve always found it easier to finish big things that matter most to me.
What’s Your One Thing?
What’s your most important writing resolution for 2011?
Put that before everything else and no matter what happens, 2011 will be a great year!
You are absolutely right. Narrowing your focus actually works. My big focus this year is to recognize how much “fear avoidance” impacts my thinking about writing… and to move through that fear (making it something I’m not scared of… in fact it’s a strength)!
Attended a Bob Mayer workshop in the fall called Warrior Writer. Awesome. (Seriously, I’ve attended writing workshops for 20 years, and this one stands out.) http://www.bobmayer.org/WDW_Writers.html
http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/
Anyway, that led to my new website, Pitch University, which is all about learning how to be awesome at pitching your book. And let me tell you, 99% of book writers hate pitching and they barely get through the experience. Fear rules the day. We’re all stuck in being scared about it. 😉
http://www.pitch-university.com/
Anyway, I’m reading Bob’s book on conquering fear called “Who Dares Wins.”
That’s my focus for the year. 🙂
Tough question! If I have to choose ONE thing, it’s my success in “A Round of Words in 80 Days”- 4 chunks of 80 days this year in which writers choose their own goals and report back to everybody else who is participating. That’s #1 for me because I am OCD about accountability to others, and this will MAKE me write another novel in a REASONABLE amount of time.
For the expansion . .
#2 is editing the 2 novels I’ve already written and shopping for an agent. (2 goals for the price of 1.)
#3 is becoming fluent in French. Or becoming barely intelligible in French. Either one. I have my French-Canadian MIL on my side. 🙂
Thanks for this helpful thought exercise!
Thank you for replying, Diane. It’s funny that you mention fear, because I used to be terribly shy. It really got in the way of so many things I wanted to do. When I started performing (juggling), the shyness went away a little. When I started pitching stories to comic book editors when I first started writing, it really helped me overcome fears.
I’m familiar with Bob Mayer’s book about overcoming fear but haven’t read it. While I’m much more confident these days, I still have my moments, so I’ll have to put it on the reading list.
Good luck with Pitch University, and take care.
CMS,
I’m not familiar with the Round of Words in 80 Days thing…I’ll have to look that up. Being accountable for goals is definitely a great way to get them done.
I sometimes give myself deadlines I miss, but when I make them public (or at least to a handful of people who will heckle me a bit if I don’t make it), I usually make all my deadlines.
It’s so easy with jobs, life, and other things that come up to push writing goals to the side. (Unless they’re paying gigs with a deadline.) That accountability you mentioned, if nothing else, puts that little thing in the back of your mind that says, “I’m never gonna hear the end of it if I keep putting other things before writing.” It a good shadow in the brain to keep you moving.
As far as French…I took a couple years in high school. I can read bits of French much better than I can speak French. I would love to get back to taking classes. Fortunately, my wife also wants to learn French, so I’m sure that what I’d learn in classes this time around would stick much better because I’d have somebody I could chat with in French always around.
Good luck to all your goals in 2011!