Tomorrow is December 31st, which is an exciting day for me, for more than one reason. First of all, it will be the day I get to celebrate completing a 50 Day Challenge of writing 1000 words a day. Although there were many days individually where this task seemed annoying and difficult, overall, it was not that hard. I just needed to commit about 30 minutes each day to writing. That is very little when you are talking about something that you want to make a career out of. The other exciting part about December 31st is, as most people, it gives me a chance to reset, and set new goals for the following year. This upcoming year, 2018, I feel more than ever that I am setup and ready to achieve my goals.

What is my New Year’s Resolution for 2018? Here are some ideas:

• Write 500 words a day, every single day of the year
• Write 1000 words a day, five days a week (giving myself a few days off)
• Work on my writing career for 30 mins to one hour every day of the week (or maybe five days a week). This will allow me to spend a little less time writing, and a little more energy on editing, and finding places to get my work published.
• Finish my memoir. This might be finishing a first draft, or getting it to the point of being ready for cold reading. I am not sure exactly. But maybe if I say, “finish my memoir” I will know what that means the more I continue writing it. With the amount that I can write in a day that should be an easy enough task.
• Publish one essay per week on my website. This could be a difficult challenge to follow-up with, but if I am serious about my brand and my website, I need to be producing more. I do get nervous that my content is not perfect and that maybe no one wants to read it, but if there is just one person that gets to read the content and enjoys it or benefits from it, then that is a win. I bought that website and it needs to be used.

Why do we set New Year’s Resolutions? For the clean slate? As a reminder of our big goals and dreams? Because everyone else is doing it? What about the little things…

• Spend at least 30 minutes outdoors every single day.
• Spend at least one hour with my family without looking at any screens every single day.
• Do 10 minutes of meditation, or physical therapy exercises, every single day.
• Spend 10 minutes drinking a mug of warm tea, or coffee, listening to music, or just the sounds outside, with zero distractions.
• Eat one meal a day with zero distractions, meditating on every bite.
• Hug one person, every single day. Try to switch it up each day.
• Tell someone you appreciate them, and give a specific reason why, even if over the phone or text message, every single day.
• Walk to work two days a week, listening to classical music, or meditating on your steps and the chill on your cheeks.

It seems that this list could go on and on and on. Read through it again. What stands out to you? There are a lot of good options on here, and I am sure I missed multiple quality resolutions that you could think of, but are afraid to commit to. Why are they so scary to commit to? Are we afraid to fail? Or are we afraid of re-prioritizing our days? If we choose one of the items above we will only be benefitting ourselves and those around us. These are win-win resolutions!

I believe it was one year ago that I committed to the resolution to do more things that make me anxious. It sounds like a super scary resolution and most may not understand why I would want to commit to something like this, but sometimes it is good for us to scare the crap out of ourselves. I would say I did a pretty good job following that resolution. My concussion brought me into an unhealthy state of anxiety, but I fought back and decided to take some big risks in order to put myself in anxious situations that I knew would be good for me in the long run, such as walking away from my amazing job, a solo road trip with minimal plans, and traveling in South America.

Successfully completing this 50 day challenge has done more for me than simply producing nearly 60,000 words, or giving me 10 amazing gifts from those that made bets with me. What is has done is proven that I can do a whole lot more. Yes, most days I was exhausted and did not think I was going to produce anything good, but I did it. If I can produce these 60,000 words, I can produce 60,000 more words of my memoir. I can produce 60,000 words of articles I want to get published. I can produce 60,000 words of speeches I want to deliver.

What are your 60,000 words? What challenge do you want to give yourself that you know will be hard, but you want to succeed badly. What do you think others will support you in achieving because they know you have the passion and the drive? Start with something small. My 1000 words might be your 100 words. Maybe my 1000 words is your 5 minutes of meditation, or drawing, or sipping on hot tea. Make it something you can easily achieve. Then, once you decided, time to be held accountable.

Tell everyone you know. Write it down on a piece of paper and put it on your refrigerator. Post it on all forms of social media. Email your closest friends and family members. Tell all your coworkers. Write it on the back of your hand. Put a reminder on your phone. Post it on the dash of your car. If you want to achieve this goal, make sure you cannot forget about it.

I was sure there was going to come a day that I forgot to finish my 1000 words. I only came close to this happening once. I had written around 450 already, and then we got caught in a conversation leading up to midnight, which I did not expect. At 11:47pm, I looked at my watch and exclaimed, “OH SHIT!” and scared the crap out of my friends. I grabbed my laptop, and ran upstairs, shouting, “I have 550 words left to write in the next 13 minutes!” I sat on the ground in my nieces room who was staying with another Auntie that night, and began to punch away. 10 minutes later,  I emerged, relieved.

Phew. That was a close one.

Go after it! You got this. Decide on the challenge for you, and go get it. Share what you decided on below.

I will share mine too, once I decide on one in the next 24 hours.