Creating Good Habits

Like most people, I set many New Year’s resolutions. Some personal ones, like losing weight for my brother’s wedding this up coming summer. And some professional ones, like writing 6 to 8 new works this year. Most of my goals revolve around creating some new good habits, whether it’s in my personal life, where I need to work on exercising or my diet, or my professional life, where I need to improve my time management skills and increase focus.

For everyone like me, that have set some great goals for yourself, and need a little help developing those good habits to complete them, here are a few tips on how to create or maintain your good habits this year.

·         Make an action plan, so you have a concrete plan to follow to your goal.

·         Anticipate your challenges ahead of time and make a plan for them. If you already have plan for how to deal with any road blocks that will arise, you’ll already know what to do in those instances. This will help you keep them as mole hills, instead of mountains.

·         Remove anything that will tempt you into that old bad habit again. If you’re trying to quit smoking throw out those cigarettes, if you’re trying to lose weight, get rid of that junk food.

·         Write down your goals. It focuses you and makes your goals concrete.

·         Set reminders. You can use software or an app that can do this for you. The reminders will keep you on track and remind you of your goals whenever they appear.

·         Create goals for every day. Every day make a tiny step towards your end goal.

·         Focus on the activities that give you the most results. Not only is it a better use of your time, but getting results will keep you more focused and driven towards your goal.

·         Go for consistency over performance. When trying to create a habit, it’s much better to keep going and try each day, then to do a lot in a few days and burn out.

·         Resist making impossible to do lists. The harder your list is to complete, the less likely you are to accomplish it, and the more difficult it will be to keep on track.

·         Use a specific day, such as a Monday, to recommit to your goal every week. This gives you 52 chances a year to recommit to your goals.

·         When you reach a goal, give yourself a reward. Celebrate your achievements.

·         Don’t quit. Leave yourself the room to fail. Try your best but don’t expect perfection. We all fall down; it’s getting back up that’s important.

How about all of you? Have you set any goals or resolutions this year? How are you doing on them now? They say most resolutions are abandoned less than two weeks after New Year’s. If you’ve faltered a bit, I know I have (in the name of chocolate birthday cake, yummy), today might be a great day to recommit, or to create a new one. Keep plugging away, and in time you’ll create good habits, just like I’m trying to do.

Happy New Year!

I love the beginning of the year. You know why? Because I love resolutions.

But I don't do the normal resolutions - no losing weight or stop smoking for me! No, my resolutions revolve around what I'm going to be doing in the coming year that will help me enjoy my life, resolutions that I look forward to fulfilling.  I'll share those now with you!

1. Write as naughty as I want - I enjoy writing romance and I enjoy writing erotic romance. I used to worry that I couldn't write both, that I would have to *pick* a side and stick with that, but after much thought and discussion, I've decided to heck with that. I'll write what the story needs and happily switch back and forth.
2. I'm getting back into my Podcast - it's been on hold for awhile, but it's time to get back into the swing of things. I love to communicate and the podcast is yet another chance for me to do that.
3. Go to more Conventions - thankfully I have a great hubby who will take the kids so I can! There is nothing I love more than bond with both fellow writers and wonderful readers over the greatness that is the romance genre. It restores my wellbeing and re-energizes my writing. When I have vacation time, this is what I'll be doing
4. Don't stress - when you are a writer, it seems everyone has an opinion how you should act online. Do this - no, don't do this. Do that - no, don't do that. I figure I'm too old to worry about all that. I'll act in a way that wouldn't make my Grandma upset with me ( because that woman is to be obeyed) and let go after that.  And in keeping with the spirit of this one...
5. Have fun - This might surprise readers, but most of us writers don't make a lot of money. What keeps us going is twofold: the hope of money  :)  and the sheer love of sharing our stories with other people and *gasp* actually have them enjoy those same stories! It's an amazing feeling. But publishing is a tough business and it can wear you down so fast. What this means to me is since I can't count on financially making a killing, I need to always grasp tight the enjoyment I get from writing and not lose that in the craziness of the business side of things. I'm not going to let fear and doubt destroy the happiness that writing brings to me.

And voila! My resolutions.  What are yours (and I hope they bring you as much pleasure as I plan on mine giving me.)

It's That Time of Year Again

Once again we’ve reached the season for making New Year’s resolutions - those promises we make to ourselves that last 2.5 weeks on average then go the way of the full service gas station. I’m not big on setting goals only once a year but for the purposes of this blog, here are some things I’d like to accomplish in 2012.

1 – I resolve not to drink any more. I also resolve not to drink any less, unless I text or e-mail someone again after having one too many. Boy, did I get slapped around the last time I did that!

2 – I resolve to quit smoking. Bear in mind that I make this same promise every six months when I visit my Doctor and he shakes his head while reviewing my lab tests.

3 – I resolve to love thy neighbor, especially if she’s cute. I also resolve not to covet her ass if she’s living with someone who could take me out with one punch.

4 – I resolve to release at least two books this year, unless Resolution Number One gets in the way.

5 – I resolve to be more sensitive to the feelings of others, unless it’s another damn telemarketer who calls when I’m in the bathroom to sell me long-term disability insurance or a membership in the Fruit of the Month Club. The same condition applies to the guy who rings my doorbell early in the morning to ask if I want my trees trimmed.

6 – I resolve to be more patient with the jerk that cuts me off in traffic because he’s so wrapped up in a cell phone conversation that he doesn’t notice I’m on the same road at the same time. To be fair, he’s probably engaged in an important call, like ordering a pizza for pick-up on the way home.

7 – I resolve to respect the common sense-challenged kid working the drive-thru at McDonald’s who takes my order then asks, “Is that for here or to go?”

8 – On a serious note, I resolve to be an attentive friend, an active listener, more understanding when I don’t agree with what’s being said, and a regular guy who remembers that I didn’t get where I am by myself.

Happy New Year, my fellow Divas!

Tim Smith is an award-winning author whose books range from contemporary erotic romance to romantic adventure. He is also a freelance photographer. More inforamtion about his work can be found at his website, www.timsmithauthor.com.