new year, new resolutions

Excuse me while I brag on myself a moment: I am awesome at making New Year's resolutions.

If the act of simply creating a list of everything a person wanted to do differently in the new year was an Olympic sport, I would gold medal every time. I am never at an end to come up with what I want to change or improve.

The trick is making that change happen.

A New Year's resolution is only as good as your commitment to follow through. That's why in making my resolutions this year, I also developed an action plan on mini goals I can achieve to make change happen.

For example, a couple of my resolutions involve my writing career. In 2012, I want to:
•  Complete writing four novels (including works in progress).
•  Land an agent.
•  Create a greater presence in the industry.

How will I achieve these goals? By breaking them down into action. These include:
•  Follow a writing schedule where I will write 8,000-10,000 words every week.
•  Find a critique partner to share meaningful notes to help me make my work stronger. (Anyone interested?)
•  Re-write my first novel with the notes I've received so far.
•  Make sure my completed books are polished before querying agents).
•  Complete a novella intended for self-published eBook.

I also have this broken down even more, but I will not get into the details yet. You will see how some of them play out here on the blog. Basically, I targeted road blocks I previously faced and established ways to overcome them. I encourage you to do the same. If you have a goal seriously consider what it will take to achieve it and then go for it.

Also, write it down. I have my goals written in multiple places. I have the steps I plan to take written down. This way I am constantly reminded of what I am working toward, as well as how and why.

For a final piece of motivation, check out this interview with actor Kevin Spacey. One of my friends shared it with me, and his answer is inspirational and sums up the importance of having more than a goal to achieve success.

He is correct in what he says. You can not succeed simply by wanting it. You have to take action and fight your way to do it. You have to look for learning opportunities in everything you do. Even then, you might not succeed, but at least you put up a fight.