I read recently that people rarely stick with their New Year's resolutions past mid-February or so. All that determination to lose weight and eat healthier melted with a half-gallon of Haågen Das (spelling?) ice cream and a movie marathon from which you've only stirred to get up and call in sick to work.
Can you find the piece of paper you wrote your resolutions on? Did you resolve not to even make resolutions?
Well, I do remember my resolutions sounded pretty "high falutin'." More of a life's mission statement that was the result of brainstorming what was important to me and the things I wanted to accomplish. But I had to dig to find the easel-sized sheet of paper with all my brainstorming -- now folded and buried under my lists of things to do!
Yep, that mission statement still sounds pretty noble: Do work I love that will provide more money than I ever dreamed possible, that will allow me to play and refill my creative well, and will keep me healthy in body, mind and spirit while nurturing my relationships.
Am I still on track or have I fallen back into old habits? Well ... a little of both. I am doing work I love, and making progress on meeting the challenge of not overbooking my time. I haven't finished the manuscript I wanted to complete in January, but I'm pleased with how the characters and plot are deepening. And I haven't made my fortune yet, though I got a call about a graphics job that should pay for my trip to the San Juan Islands this fall. This trip will be a combination of work, play and learning that fits perfectly with that noble mission statement.
I've also seen mixed progress in other things I wanted to accomplish. Maybe I expected too much. Maybe I'm not working as quickly or efficiently as I could be. However, it's been good for me to revisit the brainstorming that went into my mission statement. I don't have all the specific goals mapped out on my calendar yet, but I'm going to do that to help keep me on track. Maybe this goes hand-in-hand with anal-retentive plotting of stories!
How about you? Do you set goals? Do you keep those goals? Or are you a goal pantster and just leap off the abyss and trust that a net will catch you? Is that how you write too? Is there any correlation?
7 comments:
Wow, a trip to the San Juan Islands! You deserve it!
It sounds like you are doing well with your goals, remember you have a whole year to complete them.
I don't make New Year's resolutions. I don't do well with self-imposed rules/restrictions. ;)
I had wanted to be a good way into the first draft of the second Petticoat book by now, but alas, I have about 5 pages written and it has been sitting to the side while I "clean up" the first spirit book.
One goal I subconsciously set for myself was to have another book ready to come out at TWRP by this fall. I planned to have the next Petticoat book, but we'll see. I still have several months to whip it out and into shape.
As for panster writer, panster goal setting - yeah, pretty much! LOL
Great Blog, Genene!
Genene--Great to see you! Alice here who is now anonymous as the blogger doesn't like my password (how did I screw that up? sigh...)
It sounds as though you are sticking pretty close to those high falutin' goals you set for yourself. Amazing! And your trip sounds wonderful!
I am happy to report that I have met and even exceeded every goal I did not set. I have not lost weight, I have not become wealthy, I have not cleaned out my drawers. My file cabinet is still a joke. I have not been nicer, happier, kinder, wiser, more compassionate or less whiney. And my house is just as messy as ever it was--okay, messier.
Please, I don't deserve all the credit for not doing these things that I did not resolve to do. It's a natural gift.
Thanks, Genene for a fun blog...and I have no idea if the tendency to make resolutions or not correlates to writing habits. I would kind of think, in my case, that it didn't as if it did, I would not be angst ridden about meeting my current deadline (nor, indeed, would I have consented to one in the first place!)
Alice
Oh good blog! I too made some rather ambitious goals--but . . . you've been a lot more successful than me at meeting yours. What was that John Lennon said about life happening while you made other plans? Shortly after I made all my goals, life happened. New job. The-pregnancy-I-will-not-shut-up-about
And suddenly my goals didn't make as much sense as sleep did. I'm slowly working (Re: my post yesterday) on finding my way back to productive writing land and professional goal setting and good-wifely-behaviors. The one goal I HAVE succeeded on, I'm really proud of: I'm healthier than I've been in a long time--eating better, watching my sugars, slowly getting more exercise, and taking good care of myself.
Here's to goals and the life that intervenes in them :)
Gee, Genene, that's a tough one! And the answer is no, I haven't achieved all my goals (hey, it's only March. I've got time). It seems the career aspect of my life is always in flux so I like the goal pantser idea. Yeah, make me one of those.
Losing weight. I'm working on it, but not doing well. The eating part is fine, but as I age my metabolism slows and I haven't been able to adjust my exercise routine to accommadate. Very aggravating. This will likely be a battle I'll have to contend with for quite some time.
Writing? Ahem. Well, I must get a handle on my business first. So far I haven't been too successful at doing both at once. Every day is different, every week is different, every month is different. My work is unpredictable which makes it difficult to impossible to plan ahead. That's why the goal pantsing idea is so appealing.
Oh, Genene, I envy you! A real vacation? To a whole nuther country? Wow! Whenever I have extra income, I squirrel it away for that rainy day. It goes toward my retirement. Maybe then I can take a trip. Sigh. Good for you!!!
Karen
New Year's resolutions are made to be broken. So I just don't make any.
I make daily, weekly, yearly goals, but I never tie them into January first. My rebelling ways, I guess.
Glad some of your resolutions, or mission statement, as you call it, are coming to pass, Genene. That's great.
Great post, Genene!
Not a plotter here. Not a goal writer, either. I never thought about the connection. I consider myself a planster. I plot, but in my head. I sometimes make plot-point lists at the end of my ms, but I don't generally write everything out in detail, and I'm my list grows and changes as the book forms. I always know the start, the black moment, the end. I have a strong feeling for the villain, know the conflict like the back of my hand, but the road I follow to get to "the end" is always a fun mystery I like to explore.
As for my goals. I guess you could say I do the same. I have very strong, determined goals in my head, but I rarely write them down. I think about them all the time though. I'm constantly working toward them, but I don't have to write them down to make them real.
Loved reading your comments! "... resolutions were made to be broken ..." I'll have to remember that, Danita! Though Alice's accomplishment of meeting and exceeding every goal she didn't make really has an appeal, too!
On the "seriouser" side, I admire Eli, who can stay focused on goals in her head. If mine aren't written down, they get crowded out by "the life that intervenes"! (Good for you, Bethany, for getting so healthy!) And work that is unpredictable from day to week to month. (I'm learning to be flexible too, Karen!)
I also set daily, weekly and monthly goals. That probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. However, in the past, I've also had tendencies to overload my schedule and procrastinate -- both self-defeating behaviors. Now, I'm trying to be more realistic and to let go of some things I simply don't have time to do, as well as not beat myself up if I don't meet every single goal. They are a target; a tool to make me more productive. Not a do it or I'll eat chocolate until I die situation!
As for the "vacation" to the San Juans, I committed myself to make a presentation -- something I knew I wouldn't waffle out of -- plus attend a writer's workshop just a few days later. It wouldn't make sense to drive to the Seattle area twice in one week, right? So it was more logical to stay a few days, research a setting for a new book, and relax a little. Maybe I shouldn't confess that I have to force myself to take some time to relax!
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. As always, there is something valuable, witty or thought-provoking in all of them!
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