Goals Versus Resolutions

Do you set goals for yourself, or make resolutions? As far as I’m concerned, they’re pretty much the same thing. The difference is that you break a resolution, but you fail to achieve a goal. Neither one is a particularly nice word, but at least with goals even if you fail it gives the illusion you at least tried.

As is traditional, we start with a recap of last year’s goals first. I was light on the goals last year, there were only five of them:

Blog more often.
Write every day.
Read every day.
Spend more time on crafts.
Lose more weight.

So how did I do?

The blogging was directed more to this blog, where I noted that over the course of 2015 I’d only posted 14 times. Well, in that respect I really outdid myself. I posted 86 times to this blog over the course of the year. For my other blog I was actually down by 3 posts.

Write every day. Nope, not every day, but enough days to keep me going at least.

Read every day. I may not have read every day, but I read enough to surpass my Goodreads pledge of 52 books by 7. Okay, actually, it was more than seven - I kind of lost track of the books I read in November.

Spend more time on crafts. Well that was a great, big, no. Other than a few crafts for Christmas I really don’t have anything to show here.

Lose some more weight. Oooo *hangs head in shame* Not only did I not lose weight, I actually gained some. During the hot, humid summer I fell right off the healthy eating and exercise habit, and while I’ve been better at watching what I eat, I still haven’t regained the exercise habit.

So...other than blogging and reading, I’d say 2016 was a bit of a failure, goal wise. Which brings us to this year:

1. Keep up with the good reading habits, but include a non-fiction book every once in awhile. I’d like to say once a month, but knowing me it’ll be more like once every other month. ;-)
2. Get back on the healthy life style band wagon. I’m a diabetic, and I also have IBS, and my last check-up showed my cholesterol was higher than it should be. So no matter how much fun it is to lie in the ditch watching the band wagon continue on without me, it’s time to chase that sucker down and climb back on.
3. Get out of the house once a week. And by out of the house I mean something other than babysitting or grocery shopping. It could be a walk, or a movie, or taking in the monthly poetry reading, just so long as it’s something.
4. Less gaming, more crafting. If I want to do something mindless in front of the TV at night, crocheting or knitting is more practical than hidden objects games. Who knows, I could even get a jump start on Christmas gifts - toques for everyone!
5. Find a routine that balances what I need to do with what I have to do. I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory. I like my routines, and I get a lot more accomplished when I have one. But it’s also got to be flexible enough that it can be adjusted when life throws me a curve ball, as it so often does.
6. Write every day. I’m not going to set myself a daily word goal because I’m still trying to find a routine that works. As long as I write something - a sentence, a paragraph, a page... - I’ll be happy.
7. Write a flash fiction or short story once a month; maybe even submit one or two. I used to really love writing short stories - it seems kind of silly not to write them just because I’m writing longer stuff. Why not do both?

So there you have it. Seven achievable goals for the coming year. You’ll notice I don’t have anything there about self-promotion. I’m going to keep writing and keep publishing, but I’ve been fighting with the IRS for an ITIN number (which means I’ll get 2/3 of my royalties instead of 1/3) and until I win this battle I don’t see the point making myself crazy with the promotion stuff.

And also, as seems to be traditional, I’ll be shaking things up a bit posting wise. I’ll probably still do the wordage report, but I’m re-thinking the quotations thing. While the quotes are continually changing, the advice they offer is much the same. And I may, or may not, talk a bit about what I’m reading currently. But NO book reviews! I made that mistake on a different blog and I’m still getting emails from publicists offering me books to read. Thanks anyway, but I’ve got plenty of books to read!

Truth is, I’ve got way too many books to read. Weeding them out is a traumatic experience. And a post best written another day. ;-)

So ... what are your goals/resolutions for the coming year?