This is it folks, the last of the Great Questions to Start The Year! Woohoo! We made it! The last question I’m asking you think about as we start off this new year and new decade is the classic:
Do you have any new year’s resolutions? And what is your word for the year?
So, I deliberately saved the new years resolutions questions for the end of the month because it’s right about now that most people give up on any resolutions they started at the beginning of the year. If you are still carrying through with your resolutions, kudos to you!!
I generally don’t make new year’s resolutions because I don’t feel that I need to wait until the new year to start something that will be good for me. If I want to start a new healthy habit (like going to the gym) or a new good writing habit (like getting rid of the “that”s in my writing) I’m going to do that when I think of it. I don’t need to wait until the start of the year or the start of a month or anything like that.
That being said, I did start some new things with the new year: making audio recordings of my blog, being more conscious of my “that”s… I can’t think of anything else for my writing. For myself, I started going to the gym on a regular basis in November. I started doing yoga every other week in October (and, sadly, my yoga teacher decided to start her new year by not teaching yoga anymore [boo!]). I am doing my best to cut out extra sugar from my diet, eat more veggies, and less meat. And, of course, recently I’ve really committed myself to my coaching practice (taking a course and really determining to Do This Thing!).
That’s about it for any resolutions. So, I suppose you could say that I’m doing pretty well with them so far. I haven’t given up on anything—yet.
As for my word for the year… it’s really hard choosing a word for the year. You have to think about what you really want to work on or notice or pay more attention to and commit to it for an entire year. That’s quite a commitment. I know people who take this very, very seriously.
I don’t take it quite so seriously, but I still think it’s a good idea.
Considering the year I’m anticipating: broadening my business, determining to market my work better—not to mention the personal changes that are going to be coming my way mid-year (I’ll be moving from Europe to… I don’t know where yet! Could be Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe or back to the U.S. (although that last one is the least likely) depending on where my husband’s company decides to send him.)… I decided on the word TRY for my word for the year.
This year I am committing myself to:
- Try new marketing techniques
- Try to track the success of my marketing
- Try to expand my business
- Try to learn new skills
- Try to have new experiences
- Try to explore new places
- Try to make new friends (here where I live and where I’ll be living after we move)
- Try to keep in touch with my old friends
- Try to write as much as I can as fast as I can
- Try to write another nonfiction book (more on that later!)
- Try to eat better and exercise more
Yeah, Try is a really good word for me this year. I want to try so many new things and try to keep up with the old. I anticipate a lot of changes for me this year and I want to try to make everything work, be easy, and most of all, I’m going to try to be happy wherever I am, whatever I’m doing. I’m also going to try to make those around me happy and relaxed about it all too.
So that’s it for me! I’ve got my resolutions resolutely moving forward. I’ve got my word for the year to focus on. What about you? Do you have any big resolutions for this coming year? Do you have a word?
To encourage you to comment I am going to give to everyone who comments a PDF (or ebook, your preference) of all of the blog posts I wrote last year. That includes posts on goals, overcoming writer’s block, imposter syndrome, GMC, plotting, tropes, POV, and so much more! An entire year’s worth of blog posts at your fingertips!
If you really, really don’t want to comment but want the book of blog posts, click the Kofi link to the left of this and send me a few bucks and I’ll email you the book of blog posts.
I can’t wait to hear from you!!