Last year I tracked my resolutions for the first time and made a really good attempt to accomplish them. I met my weekly goals between 60% and 70% of the time, and met both of my large goals as well.
This year, I'm stepping it up a notch.
BIG RESOLUTIONS
Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of DSF.
I'm almost done outlining and plan on starting in January.
Resolution #2: Query TGITP
In order to do this, I need to meet some mini goals.
- May 31st: Send edited draft to beta readers
- Aug 31st: Make changes based on comments, send to new round of beta readers
- Nov 30th: Make changes based on comments
- Dec 31st: Send query
This is by far going to be the hardest goal to meet.
Resolution #3: Read 70 Books
This seemed to be a good number for me last year. Challenging, but not too crazy. If it's easier this year then next year I'll bump it up.
DAILY RESOLUTIONS
Resolution #4: Write Once A Day
This includes editing and outlining/research as well, and there's no specified time limit. So as long as I sit down to work, even if just for 5 minutes, then that counts.
What does not count is reading articles or blogs about writing, or rewriting books and studying their structure. It must be something directly related to TGITP or DSF.
Resolution #5: Clean Up for 2 Minutes Every Evening
This is a resolution I've been thinking about for awhile. I know the difference that even a small amount of time can make, but I'm always so tired at night that I don't get it done. I'm going to anchor this resolution and the next one together to make sure they get done each evening. More about that below.
Resolution #6: Do 3 Pull Ups a Day
I felt like last year I didn't really accomplish what I wanted to with this resolution (to be stronger) and part of that was because 5 pull ups a week wasn't enough to really affect my muscles. I tried to bump it up to 25 a week, but that was an overwhelming number. So I'm going to start this year off with 3 a day.
As I was saying above, I plan on anchoring this habit to make sure it gets completed. The time this year that I was most successful at this habit was when I anchored it to getting ready in the morning, arriving home from work, and getting ready for bed. This year I'm going to anchor it to brushing my teeth.
How this will look: After I finish brushing my teeth at night (and washing my face, etc), I will immediately pull out my phone and set a timer for two minutes. During that two minutes I'll do anything that cleans up the apartment, from picking up and hanging clothes to sweeping the floor.
When the timer goes off, I'll immediately do 3 pull ups. And that's it! Hopefully anchoring these habits to an already established one will ensure they get done.
Resolution #7: Do One Good Deed A Day
I toyed with the wording on this resolution for awhile, because I want it to be very broad. I want it to cover everything from letting someone in front of me in traffic, to doing the dishes for my boyfriend even if it's his night, to asking someone about how things are going in their personal lives.
I think this will be a hard resolution to achieve, because it's not the same thing every day and it's not a habit I can anchor to something else. It's more of a mindset. I also think it will be one of my most interesting resolutions this year. I plan on tracking whether or not I complete this resolution on the same paper as the others, but I'm thinking that I'll also need to record what good deed I do every day. I might record this in a journal or maybe on the computer, I haven't decided yet.
And that's it! Here's a screenshot of the spreadsheet I plan on using to keep track of my daily goals.
I have each week of the year on the sheet, and for every week I have each day listed, as well as a space next to it for a check mark. At the end of each week I'll write in the bottom corner how many out of 7 days I met my goal.
