Getting Started in 2016: Goals vs. Resolutions

Don’t be a Poser

It’s February and that means my gym is filled with people who have resolved to lose weight in 2016.  I usually get aggravated when I see the influx of people who make my gym extra smelly and hot because I know by March or April they’ll be gone. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.  I never have.  73% of the people who make New Year’s Resolutions don’t keep them.  Why?  Because they usually end up being dreams without any real action plan as to how to accomplish these resolutions realistically.  We should start calling them pipe dreams.  Can you imagine asking,”Hey, what’s your pipe dream for 2016?”  I have never made resolutions because I feared becoming part of the seventy-three percent. But since 2015 was such a pivotal year for me and now I’m a Solopreneur, I need to begin to think differently.  If you want to win, you have to have a plan.  You might still lose, but it won’t be by as much as if you never had a plan and followed through with it.  This year, I have decided to create a list of goals. I decided to do this because now I have a business and if I want it to get anywhere, I’ve got to do this to move forward.  So, I’m going to share with you my realistic goals for 2016 in my business hoping you’ll help to keep me accountable.

Goal #1 for 2016: Bi-weekly Blogging

As some of you know, this is my third blog.  My first one, Fearless Obedience, I opened for the express purpose of letting my friends and family know where I was and how I was doing in 2010 through 2012.  In September of 2010 I took a leap of faith and journaled about my journey on that blog and have since blogged thoughts and feelings about my faith and what life has been like since I took that leap in 2010.  In 2013 I started a food blog called Edible Histrionics.  I posted recipes of my own and one’s from people that I loved to use, of course giving full credit that I did not come up with the recipes if they weren’t mine.  My problem with the second blog was that I never kept up with it.  The first one I had only started for one purpose and it was never meant to have a big audience.  The second one was meant to have a large audience but I would post erratically whenever the feeling hit me.  That’s no way to go about a blog and gaining an audience.  I like cooking, but it’s not a passion.  So, I will continue to use it occasionally when a friend needs one of my recipes, but it won’t be a focus.  So, friends, I need you to keep me accountable.

What’s the Plan?

I have set-up a one year schedule for myself on Asana.   Ask me about it.  Don’t let me fall behind.  At the beginning of each month I will post a blog that will reveal another goal and how I plan to accomplish it or update you on my progress of previous goals.  So, my next goal blog will be up on Saturday, March 11. The second blog of the month will be about social change which is the basis for this business.  The next social change post should be up on Saturday, February 27. I have marked out what I want my goal blogs to be about, but the social change posts are based on current events.  So for those posts I have placed reminders in my Google Calendar to choose a topic that week to write about.

If I am calling myself a ‘Writer’ then I need to write regularly.  Although this blog isn’t the extent of my writings, it is a great way to exercise my brain and hone the skill. Not only that but it keeps my friends and colleagues abreast of my business progress.  If I am going to pursue this career honestly and sincerely then this is step one.

If any of you are avid bloggers and know some more useful tools to help me, let me know.  There are so many resources online it’s ridiculously overwhelming, so suggestions from people I know and trust are the best for me.  Post ideas or suggestions you have in the comments below.   Also, if you have any goals for 2016 that you have created a plan for and what me to join you in being accountable, post those in the comments below as well.  I’d love to join with you in solidarity!

“Don’t be a ‘writer.’ Be writing.” —William Faulkner

To The Revolution!

Ebony