Making (New Year’s) Resolutions

Most New Year’s Resolutions fail in six weeks, according to a recent CBC article. If you’ve read my previous articles, I like to give readers challenges at the end of each post. I’d argue that your resolutions don’t have to be tied to New Year’s Eve, and they certainly don’t have to last longer than six weeks to be meaningful.

What can you, as a writer or creator, accomplish in six weeks? Start by forming a goal based on an aspiration. It can be as specific as working on a specific project for x hours a day, or as general as dedicating more time to health and fitness to boost your creativity, Maybe you want to give up drinking to save some money and focus in on your WIP. While additive goals are easier to measure and follow through with, subtractive goals can be used as a complement — give up drinking for six weeks AND spend 20 minutes walking the dog in the evening to wind down.

The expert in the CBC article mentioned above recommends creating SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Once you have that general aspiration, think about why you want to commit to that target. A good SMART goal would be, “I want to spend 10 minutes at the start of each day writing affirmations in my journal from January 1, 2020 until February 15, 2020.” A poor example would be “I want to exercise more.”

Why is this step important? Setting boundaries and clear success/failure criteria helps keep you accountable. Accountability is important for anyone who may only have their own internal deadlines to deal with. Resolutions become more manageable when you have a clear finish line and rules to follow. After all, I just need to do this one thing for six weeks. Right?

Well, sort of.

Six weeks is long enough to figure out whether this new mode of behaviour fits into and improves your life and writing process. You start to form new habits after 18 days for some tasks, and after 66 days for others. That’s right, this has been a trial period.

Just like a seven-day trial which you forget to cancel and keep paying for on your credit card, you may forget to cancel your six-week resolution or choose to continue. That’s why ignoring the New Year’s bit is so important: you can start a resolution at any time.

Start small, be SMART, and trick yourself into thinking it’s only six weeks. A month-and-a-half can fly past if you stay busy, so it’s a small investment to see if something works for you.

This week’s challenge:

• Pick an aspiration, form a SMART goal, and commit to your “free trial” of a new habit.
• Alternatively, if you already have a resolution (Veganuary, Dry January, etc.), tell me how it’s going in the comments below, or on Twitter @ChrisJSig.