Did You Make a Commitment to Your Goals or Plans?

I had plans last year to participate in National Novel Writing Month. November came and went without a single word written on the project that was brewing in my mind.

It was easy to find excuses to “not write:” I had bills to pay. I needed to put things up on my Etsy store. I needed to do more research about things in the story. I had errands. I needed to address Christmas cards (which have still not been addressed).

I had a plan, but I chose to take a detour.

Let’s Take Plans One Step Further

Do you have your goals and plans mapped out for 2022?

Do you use the first week or so of the new year to map out those goals and plans?

Either way, that’s great, BUT it can’t stop there.

Have you ever noticed that many years you just don’t accomplish your goals or complete your plans? Many times a missed day of writing or editing becomes two days or even two weeks, maybe a month or more. Plans are great. Setting goals is a beginning step. Identifying what you want to accomplish this year is phenomenal.

BUT, without commitment, it’s easy to get lost. It’s easy to let excuses get in your way of completing your goals and plans.

For example, I plan to complete the rough draft of at least two novels this year. It’s a vague plan. It lacks commitment – it lacks drive.

Now, if I word that to read “I plan to complete the rough draft of my first novel by the end of March by committing at least 60 minutes of my writing time each day to putting the story down on the page.”

This lets me know what I need to do. I have a commitment. I will commit 60 minutes of my day to work on completing that novel.