Off to a Good Start

Now that the first full week of January is behind us, how did you do? Did you make any progress toward your goals? If not, what kept you from moving ahead? Did you lapse back into the same old bad habits? What can you do differently to avoid falling into that trap again?

I did pretty well this week. I made a plan for writing a certain amount of time each day and I stuck to it. I promised myself that I would not use my writing time for laundry, dishes, cleaning or any of the other distractions I face working at home. I fell short in a couple of places too, mainly because I had a vague objective with no plan to achieve it.

For example, I want to master this social networking thing. I have pages on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Live Journal, CafeMom, etc. I signed up for these to promote my writing, but I find I am overwhelmed by the thought of dealing with so many websites and constantly updating each. So this week I will visit each site and evaluate which sites are worth keeping and which to chuck. Then next week, I will post a blog or comment on each site I decide to keep. I will set aside a specific time each day to do this and I will succeed.

This week try setting a specific task for yourself and make a plan to accomplish that task. Write it down - committing something to paper can be powerful - and check your plan each day to see how you are doing. Drop me a line at the end of the week and let me know how you did.

You can do it! You can eat less, exercise more, argue less, study more, stop procrastinating. You can change your life! Good luck!