New Year’s Resolutions – 2020

It’s that time of year. Everyone is discussing their New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions, but I do make goals. I feel like resolutions are too easy to throw up my hands and say I failed. Goals are trickier, particularly when I map them out with tangible steps. The two things I am focusing on in 2020 are health and writing.

Health

I have really studied what it will take to get me downstairs and onto the elliptical machine or treadmill nightly.

First, I need to feel like I am still part of the family group.

• That means whatever we are doing upstairs as a family, whether playing video games or watching something, I want to be able to do in the basement. I can’t right now as the 1990s is calling and wants its TV back.
  • Solution: We purchased a new television for the basement compatible with the new gaming systems. Yeah, our other one really is so old we couldn’t hook the Switch up to it. At all.

Second, I need to give myself permission to be bad at exercising until I can be good at it again.

• This means allowing myself to walk, slowly, as I rebuild stamina
• It means letting myself be done after 15 minutes if I’m tired.
• It means counting things like playing dance games with the kids rather than feeling guilty that I am tired

All the science says 30 minutes a day of just brisk walking will get us a majority of the health benefits of exercising. I need to tune out the rest of the nonsense and focus on that.

Writing

I have been using Wunderlist for a couple of years now, and I use it to create monthly goals with subtasks within that tell me if I’m where I need to be each month.

It allows me to set my yearly goals then work ahead in months where I have more indoor time. Hello January in the frozen tundra! So that if something is happening later, say spring break with the kids, I can plan for it.

My goal is to publish two books in 2020 and set myself up to do the same in 2021.

• A Knight’s Redemption, available here, will be released in January.
• I am working on The Pirate Captain’s Daughter, and I plan to release that in June of 2020.
• I also have specific goals related to revising The Shadowguard so that it is ready for publication in 2021.
• I have created a timeline to write the first draft of an interconnected three novel series that takes place within the Knights of Valor world.

Yes, it’s aggressive. Particularly with a demanding day job, two kids, and a spouse. Plus, I need to sleep. Really.

But I figure its best to lay it all out, try, and fail than not to organize myself for success.

Anyone else out there have New Year’s resolutions? What are they? What is your plan to achieve them?