{"id":2491,"date":"2010-12-31T05:00:39","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=2491"},"modified":"2010-12-28T23:33:21","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T05:33:21","slug":"one-thing-for-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2010\/12\/31\/one-thing-for-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"One Thing for 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Extended index finger.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/images\/finger.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"429\" \/>It&#8217;s that time of year when people share their resolutions for the next year. (Or proclaim how silly resolutions are!)<\/p>\n<p>The problem with resolutions is most lists look like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lose weight.<\/li>\n<li>Learn another language.<\/li>\n<li>Travel to 5 different countries&#8230;maybe even 10!<\/li>\n<li>Write and sell some kind of book.<\/li>\n<li>Make an additional $50,000.<\/li>\n<li>Do something &#8220;crazy.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to make sushi.<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to paint portraits.<\/li>\n<li>Learn <em>another<\/em> language!<\/li>\n<li>Be a better person.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>The Problem With Long Lists<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The problem with long lists is they become overwhelming. Within the opening weeks of a new year, they can make you feel overwhelmed.<\/p>\n<p>Long lists of resolutions are nice, but shorter lists actually work!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Other Problem With Lists<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you look at the made-up list above, there&#8217;s a big problem with it: some of the things simply can&#8217;t be done in the span of a year &#8212; especially when all piled on top of each other. And&#8230;there&#8217;s also no indication of how these things will get done.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lose weight&#8221; is a biggie, one that ends up on many people&#8217;s list of resolutions. But there&#8217;s a problem with that resolution: it&#8217;s vague.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to be more specific:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Hit the gym 4 times a week and lose 5 pounds a month until losing 20 pounds,&#8221;<\/em> is something tangible with the goal built right in!<\/p>\n<p>If you make a long list of resolutions, do your best to write <em>how<\/em> you&#8217;ll reach a specific goal into each thing you want to accomplish.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The List of One<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When I make lists, I try to keep them to 1 &#8211; 3 things. Once I accomplish those few things, I move on to the other things I would have included in a longer, overwhelming list.<\/p>\n<p>But the list that gets the most attention is my list of one.<\/p>\n<p>When I look at 2011&#8217;s writing goals, it&#8217;s important to pick one thing that I want to do more than anything else.<\/p>\n<p>While I plan to release a couple e-books based on <em>The Juggling Writer<\/em> material, turn the novel from <a title=\"Link to the Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors podcast.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.roadtripfromhell.com\">the podcast<\/a> into an e-book (and maybe a print-on-demand book), start a Juggling Writer podcast, hopefully get an agent and sell my current novel, and do so many other things &#8212; above everything &#8212; there&#8217;s one thing I want to do most: <strong>finish my <em>next<\/em> novel!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If I do nothing else in 2011, I want a readable draft of what I have planned next done by December 31, 2011.<\/p>\n<p>If I see no progress on that one goal each month in 2011 &#8212; if I find myself working on the blog and other writing-related things because they&#8217;re easier &#8212; I&#8217;ll be missing the thing I want most from writing in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>By focusing on one thing above all others, I&#8217;ve always found it easier to finish big things that matter most to me.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What&#8217;s Your One Thing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>What&#8217;s your most important writing resolution for 2011?<\/p>\n<p>Put that before everything else and no matter what happens, 2011 will be a great year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time of year when people share their resolutions for the next year. (Or proclaim how silly resolutions are!) The problem with resolutions is most lists look like this: Lose weight. Learn another language. Travel to 5 different countries&#8230;maybe even 10! Write and sell some kind of book. Make an additional $50,000. Do something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[37,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}