Plant Seeds with me in 2024

Let's Watch Our Gardens Grow

Hello, my friends and readers,

I don’t know about you, but the past few years have been exhausting in so many ways. And yet, if the old adage “nature finds a way” holds true—plants still grow and flowers still bloom. I don’t know how to help you weather yet another year of depressing news and impending doom on top of an election. I can, however, write words of inspiration to empower you to keep going: to keep living and growing and changing in your own life. After all, you deserve a good day.

Taking a cue from my 2024 Resolution to plant seeds, I’d like to dive into this metaphor a bit more. While we’re each sowing gardens in our own respective spaces, none of us are alone. Each month, I’ll tap into a different gardening theme and lay out some smol goals and journalling opportunities. Before we can get started, though, clarity is required. What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish? Experience?

Journalling Exercise: Refining a Resolution

New Year’s Resolutions are often the consequence of desire; they’re a pledge to fulfill a need or motivation. Resolutions encapsulate an action you can take to become your ideal self to embrace a different version of you. They aren’t, however, always formed out of necessity. Sometimes, resolutions are pledged because they’re what you “think” you need. Is it any wonder why New Year’s Resolutions are abandoned by Springtime?

Instead of asking what you need, desire, or think you can accomplish this year, I’d like to ask you a series of questions as a journalling exercise. There’s no right-or-wrong answers to these questions, mind you. The answers are for you, to help you refine your resolutions.

1) What do you dream about accomplishing in 2024?

For this question, don’t self-reject. Be honest with yourself. It’s okay if your dream is bigger or smaller than you “think” it should be. It’s also totally fine if you want to plan a goal around an experience like visiting authentic restaurants or, in my case, making soup. It’s your dream.

Example: I want to publish twelve award-winning short stories in 2024.

2) What are the barriers to achieving your dream?

The most common barriers to accomplishing any goal are time and money. Space, lack of knowledge, missing connections can also be factors, too.

Example: I don’t know enough about the short fiction landscape to know who's publishing what.

3) What factors are out of your control?

This question can be hard to reflect on, but I feel it’s important to answer because there are factors, whether we like to admit it or not, that are out of our control.

Example: Editors may not connect with my work and awards are “icing”. I can’t control how someone will respond to my stories nor can I control how/when/if folks will nominate them for awards.

4) What actions will you take to help you achieve your dream?

Example: I need to write a lot of short stories, at least twelve, and submit them to various publications.

5) Review your answer to number three. When will you feel you’ve accomplished your goal?

Example: When I’ve written and polished twelve short stories for submission in 2024.

By answering these five questions, I’ve pared down a common writer’s goal to an actionable and manageable plan. Instead of worrying about publishing or awards, I’ve revised the dream to be something I can accomplish: writing twelve, solid short stories and submitting them in 2024.

Other examples of actionable goals might be based on word count, projects, or other quantifiable metrics. If you’re not sure what your answer is to number five, think about your best case and worst case scenario. For example, say twelve new short stories is your best case scenario. What would your worst case be? Six?

If you’re not keen on writing, let’s take a look at a craft-themed example instead. Here are the answers to the questions asked:

1) I want to knit cable-knit scarves for my 2024 holiday gifts.

2) I don’t know how to knit cables or figure out how many yards I need for each project, and I have several other projects to knit first. I’m worried I will run out of time. Plus, this probably means I need to buy more yarn.

3) In this case, nothing is stopping me from knitting—unless disaster strikes. I could run out of time if I don’t manage it wisely.

4) Find and take different knitting tutorials to test cables using the yarn I have. Visit a yarn store and ask for help planning the projects.

5) I’ll feel satisfied if I can knit five scarves with cables in time for the 2024 holiday season.

By journalling, you can identify what you want, what prevents you from getting what you want, and what you can do to accomplish that goal. Maybe you’re going to pick more than one thing you’d like to accomplish this year—if so, great!

I’d also like to suggest that even if you have a goal that you’d like completed by the end of the year, plan to start that goal in January instead of waiting. Now is the time to think about what you want to “plant” for the year, so you can enjoy what you’ve accomplished later.

Add Finishing Touches

Once you’ve journalled about your goal, it’s time to finalize your resolution. Writing down that end result is one of the best ways to encapsulate a goal that’s actionable. It’s incredibly important to record the most simplified version of your goal and then post it. You’ll want to make sure your goal is posted somewhere where you can reread (or listen) to that mantra as a built-in reminder of what you want to accomplish. If using words is challenging for you, pick a symbol or color to rally behind. Last year, my symbol was the sun, for example. It was a way of reminding myself to seek warmth and light.

You’ve already read the result of my journalling exercise: to plant seeds. In this way, I hope to revive my career and nurture it with lots and lots of love. I did assign a lofty number—Hoo! It’s a big’un—that I have no expectations filling. I’m not sure what number I’ll be happy with, because I’ve never tried a goal like this before. Instead, I plan on committing to a year-long adventure where I track my actions and then learn from those lessons. The form I’m using will collect the data when I do plant them, and I’ve already set aside time in December 2024 to review and celebrate.

Resolution Recap

Think of this as prep work for January’s smol goals. Before you can take action, you’ll need to have a clear understanding where you plan on putting your effort for the year. After all, your time and energy are not unlimited resources.

1) Journal about one (or more) goals.

2) If you have more than one goal, prioritize them in order of importance.

3) Summarize your goals in one sentence (or less) and post them. Comment here if you like!