Staying on track even if the train wants to derail

It’s almost the end of January…the first month of the New Year after many hopefuls made resolutions they hope to stick to with the idea that this year things will be different than the last.  If you made New Year’s resolutions, I hope they are working out for you and that you’ve been able to stick to them so far.

I didn’t make resolutions, really.  What I did was find a new outlook so that I could become unstuck in order to move forward rather than continue looking back or fearing what may come.  The concept of living in the present is not just a concept, it can be done, but we tend to forget how because we are usually on overload, from a combination of home life, health, work, kids, outside obligations or the ever-growing to-do list.  

My ulterior motive for this year is to accomplish my goals even when the brick wall of life doesn’t always move out of the way.  Let’s face it…life is big and it’s messy and no matter what we do, there comes a day, a month, a year even, when the brick wall stands tall or the train wants to derail.  It’s just not something we can control, but we can learn to control how we respond when it happens.  Therefore, we have to figure out how to maneuver around the brick wall or how to stay on track even if the train derails. 

So far this month, I’ve focused on what I need to do to stay on track in order to reach my goals:

Since writing every day can be difficult, I stress less about daily writing and work towards reaching a word-count goal every week instead.  If I’m able to write every day, that’s just a bonus.

I put together a series Bible for the Jorja Matthews mystery series to help me as I continue to write more books in the series – I really wish I started this during or right after the first book because it has taken me quite awhile to finally get the binder put together.   But you know the saying, better late than never.  Now that I have one, it will be very beneficial for me to use as I write more books and it will be much easier to add to from now on.

I have a new personal planner but I was searching for a planner just for keeping track when it came to my writing, but I just wasn’t able to find anything that would work for me.  A calendar is a calendar, but I wanted a planner that would also inspire me and allow me to track different goals and accomplishments throughout the month.  Not finding one, I finally made one myself using a classic planner binder I haven’t been using.  In this planner I’m tracking my monthly focus, my weekly word count, my weekly/monthly/quarterly to-do lists, social media tasks, marketing and event ideas, writing ideas and thoughts and also notes and a timeline as I work on my current books.  I’ve also added motivational quotes and photos to make it more visually appealing and fun. 

With what I’ve focused on so far this month, I believe I’ll be better able to stay committed to the tasks required of me to reach my goals, even when life tries to steer me off course. 

So that’s where I am right now with my new outlook on this New Year.  What changes have you made to try to stay on track with your goals or resolutions?