Month: April 2017

At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum, I decided to make spring resolutions this year instead of inflicting further misery at New Year.   In case you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, you can catch up with the rest of this series of blogs here, here and here.
My business goal is the most challenging because it doesn’t rest solely in my hands.  I can talk to as many prospective new clients as I want but they need to decide that they want to work with me.  When you’re hiring a writer it’s certainly true that your personalities need to be a good fit.  I haven’t worked for anyone I’ve actively disliked but there have been occasions where I’m working for someone against my better judgment.  The words start to feel forced and that’s never a good thing.

I’m aiming to sign up five new retainer clients by the end of the year.  The best thing I can do to achieve that is to focus my marketing in the right places.

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If you’ve been following this blog series so far (and if you haven’t you can catch up here and here) you’ll know that I’ve made two spring resolutions this year.  New Year’s resolutions are so 2016.  During the course of my life I’ve made dozens of different resolutions.  Some have succeeded and some haven’t.  I’ve realised that there are two main differences between the two.  Firstly, how much I wanted to achieve the goal or not and secondly, what steps I took to track my progress.

Choosing the right goal

I was 23 when I went to university.  When I left school I had an offer of a place but it was my second choice and I didn’t know what I’d get out of it besides a mountain of debt.  Of course, a mountain of debt then is a molehill now, but that’s another debate.  I spent a few years doing various courses and a few secretarial and admin jobs whilst I worked out what to do next.  When I finally went to university I’d escaped from a job I hated.  I was motivated to study and find a proper career path.  By the end of my first year I’d had a fantastic time and put on a massive amount of weight.  I wanted to feel healthy again so I did something about it.  Getting into the right frame of mind just felt easy.

Choosing a 10k run as a health goal took a while.  I can’t set goals based on what other people think of me.  It has to be about my own opinion of myself.  I know that probably makes me deeply narcissistic but it’s true.  I’m the only person who can put one foot in front of the other first thing in the morning or keep my hand out of the biscuit tin.

Why do I need to track my data?

When you first set a goal that you’re really excited about, you just launch yourself into it.  You’ve made the plan and you’re fired up to execute it.  Then, a few weeks in, your motivation can start to slip.  The changes you made take you out of your comfort zone and it starts to feel like more of an effort.  That’s where tracking comes in.

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This year, I decided that I wouldn’t make any resolutions until spring.  Basically, it’s all about getting into the right frame of mind but if you’d like more detail than that you can read my previous blog post here.  I’m also keeping it simple.  I’ve made one business resolution and one health related one.  I’ll be talking about my business resolution in another post, but for now I need to get down to brass tacks with the health one.

My health goal

I’m aiming to run a 10k by the end of this year.  For some of you that will sound like an epic challenge, I know others who do that distance as a warm up.  I’ve done a few 10k races before but the last one was on Boxing Day 2015.  My last run was a Santa Run for charity at the beginning of December 2016.  When I ran, it prompted me to make other good choices.  I’d still have a drink but not so many that I couldn’t get up and go out in the morning.  I lost weight and had more energy for my kids.

I can give you all sorts of excuses about the slow decline in my running performance.  My kids won’t be among them though.  I ran my first official 10k at six months pregnant and I’ve only slowed down as they’ve got older.  The main reason is pain.  My back started to seize up during runs and at first I struggled through, then gave up completely thinking I would do some yoga and stretches and start again when things improved.

They got worse.

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Did you make any New Year’s resolutions?  How are you doing with them?  I know we’re all supposed to feel happy and bouncy at the prospect of a New Year, making a fresh start, etc., etc.  The way I look at it, it’s January.  The weather’s awful and we haven’t even got Christmas to look forward to any more.  It all makes me want to pull the duvet over my head and hibernate.  The only flaw in that plan is my two small children.  The youngest in particular is likely to jump on my head before stealing the bedclothes and running away cackling.

The fact is, I’m just not motivated to do anything in January, or February for that matter.  So, this year, I resolved to shift my resolutions back a bit.  The weather is warmer, I’m cheered by the sight of daffodils outside my window and I’m ready to take action.

The question is, what happens next?

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