Why I stopped making New Year's Resolutions

Resolution Defn

The problem with my resolutions was not that I wasn't "firmly decided".  I was!  I was very determined to follow my resolution.  But, just like so many other people, I never really did.  By February, they were often forgotten.

I realized after many (maaannnyy...) "failed", unaccomplished, and forgotten New Years Resolutions that something was missing.  There must be a better way.  I confess, that "better way" eluded me for quite some time.  So, I did not make resolutions, and I didn't really replace it either.  I sort of gave up...for  a while.

Then, I began learning about business, about being an art-prenuer.  I am always reading, researching, learning - you could say it is one of my passions.  In learning about business, I began to see the importance of -- you guessed it -- goal setting.  

Ugh!  I hated the idea of goal setting.  
That was just another thing that I never felt worked for me.  It was boring, and, I never could seem to succeed at reaching my goals.
 
But, then...
I found a great resource for reviewing your past year and dreaming about how you want your next year to look - Leonie Dawson's Creating Your Shining Year Workbook*.

This started me down a new path.  I began thinking about what I really want my life to look like.  How did I want to spend my days?  I could keep being driven by my circumstances, or I could change things.  I realized it was up to me.

The Creating Your Shining Year Workbook* was a great starting point. The work I put into completing the workbook gave me an over-arching, sort of umbrella type view of what I wanted.  

But, I found that I still didn't follow through with many of the things I really wanted.  Some I did, others, not so much.   I could see more of where I wanted to go, but not the path for getting there. 

I continued reading, learning, researching.
I am always researching.

...more research.

...time passed.

In January 2014 I bought a planner.  (Another UGH! for artists.)  Not my first ever planner -- there were many before this one.  The difference was, I actually used it the ENTIRE YEAR!  

There is a story behind why I bought a planner -- I will share that another time, if you like.

Buying this planner helped me focus on what was missing.  Resolutions did not work. Doing the workbooks for an amazing life was a great start -- but something was still missing.  

I needed the stepping stones for the path.

Stepping Stones

That is when I began to learn to break my goals down into actionable chunks.  I wish I could give credit to a specific person I learned this from -- but I can't.  I can tell you that so much of what I have learned has come from authors and bloggers like Melissa Dinwiddie, Cory Huff, Alyson Stanfield, Chris Guillebeau, and Jennifer Lee, to name a few.

And that is why I never make New Years Resolutions.  No more unattainable, unactionable "firm decisions" for me!

From now on, I am striving to create goals for each year -- personal and business.  I start with the workbooks*.  Then I take those goals and break them down into stepping stones.  And, one by one, I walk the path to achieve my dreams.

How do you build and walk your path?  Lets share!  Leave a comment here or on facebook :). 

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