NYE 2013

With 2012 coming to a close, you've got a chance to start the new year on a positive note. Enter 2013 with an increased craving for success.

It's going to take some determination and you have to start right away.  It doesn't matter how tired or hung over you are after your New Year's Eve parties and it doesn’t matter how many "last minute" tasks you need to finish up before you return to work.

Whatever you've set out to do in this coming year is far too important to be put off another day.  You owe it to yourself to get going and not waste this new year.

I know that philosophically, January 1 is nothing more than a man-made invention to keep track of time. I don't care. There is a tremendous psychological advantage to using New Year's Day as a method of starting and tracking your goals.

Open up your spreadsheet software. On the top row, type in the goal you have. Every day log your progress. I hate to make it a numbers game, but physically tracking your progress will help hold you accountable and keep you on track. For example, say you're hoping to lose 15 pounds this year. That's only 1.25 pounds per month. If you keep that on a daily spreadsheet, you can watch the downward slope on the graph. That right there is enough positive feedback to keep you working at it. The key is writing it down.

But that's not all. You'll also need to have some benchmarks set to track your progress. For example, one of my goals is to finish a new short story each month.

I break that up into weekly goals like so:

Week # 1 - Work on the basic plot summary and finish first rough draft.

Week # 2 - Clean up draft to where it's mostly presentable, then submit to a critique group. (I use Scribophile.com)

Week # 3 - Work on final revision, based on Scribophile feedback.

Week # 4 - Read it over a few more times for continuity and then format and submit to publisher.

This example will work because it includes weekly benchmarks (or deadlines, if you will) and the weekly goals aren't too difficult to reach.

So enjoy New Year's Eve tonight, party hard, and don't forget to write down some achievable goals for 2013.