Resolutions vs. Plans
A post from @pentup@mastodon.art got me thinking about the difference between what I call plans and the resolutions I'm not doing.
For me, the distinction isn't necessarily the planning.
Why should you listen to me?
I'm not the most successful writer in my field. By most measures, I'm still getting started.
If you're making a living writing fiction, you're ahead of me in so many ways. I'm not sure it makes sense to change your process for mine.
On the other hand, if you've been trying resolutions and never quite getting to the goal, my method may be what gets you to hit the Publish button (or its equivalent for your own personal goals). Or maybe it will just provide some inspiration you can use to build your own thing.
What I mean by plan
With plans, I'm not necessarily talking about something that's fundamentally more elaborate as a starting place. My plan for 2026 on these pens is “write and publish shorts.” The individual shorts themselves will get more actual planning than the 2026 plan did.
The rigidity of resolutions
A resolution is often something like “go to the gym every day” or “don't eat junk food,” etc. I think the planning isn't so much the issue. There's often a lot of planning like:
- This is the gym I want
- This is when I'll go each day
- This is what I need to buy, etc.
The moment the gym streak breaks, the resolution is ruined because we don't have time machines. We can tell ourselves that we'll renegotiate the parameters but it generally doesn't work because of human nature. The thing that kept us going when we really didn't want to was the streak. When the streak is gone, we lose the motivation.
With my plans, the motivation is completing the individual effort. I want to tell that story or record that song or release the project. If I skip a day, it's no big deal because working on it daily was never part of the thing. If I end up doing 50% of the project in one day (as I can with a short!), it's great because it gets me closer to working on the next thing.
Start now, not later
I also find that starting anything on a set day in the future tends to really do one in. When I was working on ... the project I ended up completing in November probably, I was talking about it as if it was October's project but I started it in September. Basically, as soon as I had enough of a plan to work on it, I used the planning momentum and excitement to get going.
Applying that to what I'm doing right now ... I started doing the work on that as soon as I realized I wanted to do it. I started writing on Short 1 two days ago. It's unlikely that story will have the Publish button pushed in 2025 but I'm sure as heck not waiting until the new year to work on it. 😹
The finitude of this kind of plan
One of the upsides to this kind of “planning” is that a specific effort finishes whenever its done. There is an endpoint for each story (get it published) and, when that goal is finished, the main effort is finished too. Of course, we live in a capitalist hellscape so that's not quite true. I gotta keep promoting the thing but I can roll that promotional effort into what I'm already doing promotion wise.
And I can work on the next story or work on the next plan. It's always fresh. It's not going to the gym each day until I either die or break my streak. The next thing doesn't have to be prose fiction either. It can be write a song or do an AV project.
How does it work out?
Is this kind of planning more successful than resolutions? I don't know. I'm not sure they're doing the same thing. This type of planning is the only way I've ever successfully changed my life but I'm not using the concept to get swole or whatever. I'm not sure it would even work for that because the equivalent would be “I plan to lift weights sometimes” or whatever.
On the other hand, I can (and do) start one any time I want to change something.
As far as that goes, it's working out pretty well. It might help you too!
Please support my work by picking up some of my stories at Chanting Lure Tales. Not sure you'd be into my stuff? Check out my free Christmas smut, Unauthorized Toy Testing.
