Breaking Freelance Resolutions: How To Get Back On Track

Okay, here’s some honesty for you: I already broke one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Yesterday, I had every intention of staying within my Weight Watchers points for the day and was actually doing very well. And then I went to a New Year’s Day function that had a spread of all the things I needed to stop eating two weeks ago—cookies, chips, fudge, chocolate, the list goes on. Instead of walking away from the buffet of bad-for-me things, I stood there and grazed. Hoovered up some chips, mint cookies, chocolate fudge, and shortbread. Ick.

So today—instead of beating myself up—I’m going to dust myself off, hop back on the scale <whimper>, count my points, and have another go at that resolution again.

I’d recommend the same strategy for any freelance goals or resolutions that you’ve already fallen away from—don’t dwell on the failure or the shortcoming. Just dust yourself off and try again. It’s a new day and another chance to make good on those promises you made to yourself.

One of the reasons that so many resolutions fail is because we flog ourselves unmercifully every time we miss the mark. And I don’t know about you, but that’s where the whole motivation problem creeps in for me. After a couple failures and the self-flagellation that follows, it’s easy to get the F&^k-Its and a What’s-the-Use? attitude about this whole goal-setting business.

Here’s a better strategy: Accept the fact that you will probably fail a few times before you establish the habits that are going to get you where you want to go with your freelance goals. So you didn’t write the first 1,500 pages of your novel yesterday? That’s okay. Try again today. You didn’t send out two queries like you said you would every day of the new year yesterday? That’s okay. Today is a new opportunity to try again.

The key is to keep trying and to focus on the progress that you’re making—not on the failures you’re experiencing on the way to meeting your goal. And if you continue to miss the mark on that resolution, reconsider your strategy or the goal itself. Maybe it would be more doable to send out three queries in a week than one a day. Or perhaps you are missing the mark on writing those daily pages for your novel because you haven’t yet scheduled that daily discipline into your day.

It’s like the Rejection Letter Olympics that I’ve hosted here in recent weeks. You know that you’re going to meet failure on the way to success. But the point is to keep trying anyway.

Focus on progress, not perfection. And remember, failure is your friend as long as you continue to learn from it and adjust your strategy for success the next time!

So what’s your strategy for getting back on the right track with a resolution? Drop me a line—I’d love to hear about it!

-Jenny

Photo credit: hans s (Flickr)