Preparing for 2020

by Mindy Obenhaus

Suppose you were going to embark on a journey. A long, twelve-month journey. Would you set out on your trip without a map or knowing where you wanted to go, or would you have a few stops in mind, perhaps things you’d like see along the way?

Chances are you would have at least one goal, if not many. Why not approach a new year the same way, while the calendar (or much of it, anyway) is still blank? After all, life is a journey. So find a moment to press the Pause button on life, grab cuppa whatever, along with a pen and paper and ask yourself this question: What are my goals for 2020?

Okay, now before you roll your eyes and politely inform me that you don’t make New Year’s resolutions, hear me out. I’m not talking about lofty, pie-in-the-sky notions such as “I want to make the best seller list” or “I want to win the lottery.” Those are things you have absolutely no control over. What I’m asking you to think about are those things you do have control over. What are some realistic things you’d like to accomplish in the next twelve months?

As an example, here’s my list from last year that I entitled Goals, Wishes and Dreams.

• Four-book contract for new series (I was finishing up the last book in another series that would fulfill my current contract, so this was in realm of possibility)
• Quarterly newsletters
• Posts on my personal blog
• Attend RWA
• Attend ACFW
• Shop Round Top Week (twice-a-year massive antique fair not far from where I live, yet I never seem to get there)
• Visit Ouray
• Get back on my eating program
• Write a holiday book
• Update camphouse

Ten items. Things I had hoped to accomplish. Things that were a guide, pointing me in the right direction as I journied through 2019. I kept it in the back of my calendar and recently revisited it to see how I fared. 

The results?

• I received a contract for the four-book series.
• To my surprise, I mananged ten newsletters.
• Not one post on my personal blog, which now has me considering eliminating it.
• I was able to attend both RWA and ACFW.
• My daughter and I made it to Round Top last spring for a day of combing for treasures.
• I did not make it to Ouray. Maybe in 2020.
• However, I did get back on my eating plan.
• I did not write a holiday book, though there was one in my new series proposal so I will be writing one soon.
• And we painted the inside of our camphouse and did some much-needed purging.

Seven out of ten isn’t bad. It was exciting to tick off those things I’d actually accomplished. Like I said, they don’t have to be big things, just things that are important to you. Things you may be procrastinating on. Two years ago, my number one goal was to learn how to make a meme. I’m still not great at it, but at least I know how.

Listen, I've spent many a year floundering through life. Sure I had ideas of things I wanted to do, but there's something that happens when you write them down. Like a contract you've made with yourself. And while there's nothing binding about it, suddenly you want to approach things more purposefully. As though something in your brain clicks and says, "Okay, this is what I want to achieve, so what steps am I going to take to make it happen?"

So let's chat about this. Tell me one thing you'd like to do this year. Nothing is too small. Perhaps you simply want to clean out that closet that's been taunting you forever. Whatever it is, I'd like to know. And then we'll meet up again next year and see how we did.

Three-time Carol Award nominee, Mindy Obenhaus, writes contemporary romance for Love Inspired Books. She’s passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren at her Texas ranch. Learn more at www.mindyobenhaus.com