I know it’s 3 January so I’m a bit late to the party with this one, but hey.
I’ve been thinking for a while about what my goals might be for 2017 and initially, I wasn’t going to set any. Last year was a tough one and I haven’t been feeling at my best. But it’s amazing what a rest and a fresh calendar year can do for you.
Over the last couple of years I’ve looked back at previous goals and whether I’ve met them. I don’t want to take that approach this year – mostly because I was rubbish in 2016!
This year, I don’t want to set myself too many small goals. I’ve been experiencing lots of changes and it can be tough keeping up with everything, so I don’t want to make resolutions for the sake of it.
But in 2017 I want to focus on a couple of things…
Reading 100 books
Even as I type this, I know it’s ridiculous and there’s no way I’ll manage to read this many books. After scraping my goal of 70 books in 2015, I didn’t set a target for 2016 and it was a pretty disappointing reading year. In the end, I got through a mere 44 books.
So this year, I’m determined to read more and read better quality books that get me excited and inspired. While I’m stating 100 as my target, I don’t really expect to reach that, it’s more a symbol of my intention to be pro-active again.
Writing every day
This is another target that makes me scoff at myself, because I know how I work in reality and it isn’t like this.
However, maybe another strict target will motivate me to do more than I have been in recent months. I’ve never really established a regular writing routine, despite years of trying. When I’m working towards a deadline or I’m immersed in a project, I have spells of writing regularly. But the deadline passes or I lose the thread and it stops.
I’ve been skirting around a couple of new story ideas for a while, without really getting started.
So this year, I want to work on one of these every day, even if that only means jotting down an idea for a scene or a character. It all helps to achieve the ultimate goal of finishing a novel.
And even if I only manage to write half the time, it’s still more than I’ve done in the past.
Being more positive
I’m terrible for giving myself a hard time. The last few months have been hard and I’ve been feeling quite low and lacking in confidence. It would be lovely for something good to happen to give me a boost.
But life doesn’t work that way. I need to be able to gain confidence and positivity from within myself. I can’t rely on other people, or the universe, to make it happen.
None of these goals will be easy. They may well be completely unattainable, but the idea is to try. Even if I don’t meet the final goal, I’ve still made progress and that will help me to feel like I’ve achieved something.
So here’s to making 2017 a better year than 2016.
Sara Strauss says
100 books is a great goal! Listening to audiobooks to and from work helped me get to 94 books last year, so it might be something worth trying. I also need to be more positive!
~Sara
Amy Lord says
Thanks Sara, I’ve been meaning to try audiobooks for ages so it might be a good option!