Taking Action – Not Just For New Year’s

I have mixed feelings on resolutions.

I feel like there’s a lot of adrenaline around the end of December that pushes us into January. We feed off this adrenaline and use it to come up with all these new goals and changes we’re going to implement. The problem is many of us don’t continue to take action toward our goals once this adrenaline wears off. Look at all the people who join gyms in January that don’t continue to go the rest of the year.

(For the record, I’m okay with this one. I like it when February comes and my gym is less crowded.)

Another issue I have with resolutions is when people use them as an excuse to wait to take action. For example: October comes around. You know you want to get into shape. But instead you think, “I’ll wait until January to start dieting.” This is mere procrastination, and it’s the opposite of what we want when it comes to goals.

Of course, there are many people who taking action toward their goals year round. When this happens, it’s awesome and inspiring.

I’ve learned recently that I love writing – like, a lot. So much so that I’ve started researching how I can make money as a freelance writer (while still using phrases such as “like, a lot”). And this my friends, is my biggest goal for 2014 – or as some might call it, my “New Year’s Resolution.” I’ve been a bit hesitant to tell people this – more on that in a bit. But I wanted to share it with all of you, as well as my action plan:

–Writing down my goals daily. I learned this from a really cool exercise through Courtney Rioux, who I’m currently working with. (Feel free to check out the exercise yourself!) For the freelance writing goal, I’ve been writing down, “I make $300 or more a week from a writing job that I love.” Then I write down three small steps to accomplish this, along with a deadline. The steps are constantly changing, but have included filling out my E-lance profile, checking craigslist, and applying to Chicago newspapers for freelance work.

–Sharing my goals with others. As I mentioned, I tend to get shy when it comes to telling people I want to be a writer. Dallas Travers tweeted recently that “if you can’t say what your goal is, how do you expect to ever accomplish it? Talking your talk comes first.” Since reading this, I’ve been a lot more vocal about wanting to write as a side job.

–Continue to push myself after tedious work days. In the past, I’ve been very unproductive after days at the restaurant. They can be extremely stressful and tiring. Lately however I’ve been much more productive: Going to the gym, coming home and looking for auditions, or working on my list of weekly goals. I usually don’t put in as much time as I would on a day off. But considering I have other plans besides waiting tables, it feels so empowering to spend the remainder of my day working on goals.

–Always be taking action. If I stop, then I lose momentum. This doesn’t mean I can’t spend an evening at the movies, or at home watching Netflix (I swear I do things other than this). But it does mean I need to work hard before I play hard. Or play lounge…I need to get out more.

All this being said, staying on track isn’t always easy. Some people find it hard to continually take action. I frequently ran into this problem for a while. I kept running into obstacles and distractions. When you find yourself falling off track, it’s not necessary to kick yourself. What is important is acknowledging what happened, and then making a plan to move forward. Do this and I bet you’ll have a fantastic 2014.

Go take action, everyone! And be sure to share what’s going on with your friends.