Friday, January 1, 2010

No Resolutions, Baby!

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I learned early in life they were a recipe for making me feel bad about myself when I didn't follow through. And honestly, if your resolution was something you were actually going to do, you would have done it already. You wouldn't need a flippin' resolution. You would just do it.

In 2008, I wrote my first novel. I didn't resolve to write it. I sat down one morning in February and started writing. I didn't stop until I had finished. In January of 2009, I started my blog. Again...no resolution. I registered for a blogger account and started writing. This year I plan to finish a new novel I started last month. I haven't resolved to finish it. I'll sit in front of my laptop and write.

Quit resolving to do something, and make like Nike. Just do it.

If you don't really want to do it, and you know you won't, for Pete's sake, don't resolve to do it. Should I quit eating hamburgers? Yes, I have no gall bladder, and I should definitely cut back on fried foods. Will I stop eating hamburgers? Hell no! So why in the name of all that is holy would I resolve to do it?

The only pledge I will make this year is the one I found on The Bad Pitch Blog.
Pledge to Make a Mistake: Promising yourself you'll f-up in 2010 comes with two
benefits. Accepting you'll make a mistake allows you to focus on the actual work
instead of achieving perfection and dreaming up horrible consequences stemming
from the mistake. But more importantly, you'll learn something. It's not whether
or not you'll make a mistake, it's how you handle the mistake that will
ultimately set you apart -- for better or for worse.

That's a pledge I can keep. And I like the use of the word pledge rather that resolve. Pledging holds more weight, like a vow. Resolving is something Congress and City Council do. We hereby resolve to blah, blah, blah.

So get out there and do the things you really want to do. Don't resolve to make your dreams happen. Make them happen. Then take a load of guilt off, and quit lying to yourself about the rest.

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