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.
