Sustainable Practices by Andy Scheer

How are your New Year's resolutions working? Less than a week into the year, it seems reasonable to modify or exchange any that aren't working.

Because I spent much of the past week doing various forms of organizing, it would be easy for me to promise that this year, I will adopt sweeping organizational practices. A nice thought, but I know myself too well.

Years ago I worked with an editor who was compulsively organized. Her hair and makeup were always perfect, her clothes always stylish. She was the first person I met who used a Daytimer, then a cell phone. She even wrote a book on time management.

It was filled with advice I knew I could never follow – for very long. But the book did contain a few small suggestions I knew I could handle. Years later, I still am.

Every year or so, a writer friend starts a new blog. With many contacts in his specialty, he has plenty of prospective readers. His posts are interesting and on-target. But each time, his blogging efforts fade within a few months – until his next big idea he thinks he wants to write about.

Maybe he envisions an entire year of articles and gets overwhelmed. Myself, I find it easier to grasp what it takes to write a single item: finding and refining an idea, then sitting down to write, print, edit, and post.

This past year, my ex-blogger friend begin posting on Facebook. Nine months later, he's still at it. Maybe it's the informality, or maybe it's the attraction of being able to post smaller items.

Whatever your goals for this year, I hope you've selected small steps that you know you can sustain.