Forget whatever it is you’ve resolved to do all year, and which resolution you will break in about a month. Try this instead: make a resolution for 40 days. That’s it. 40 days. You can last that long. Then when you’re finished, make a new one. That’s nine chances to improve a year, with five days left over.
Why 40 days? Well, I’ve read and heard before that it takes 40 days to either break a bad habit or form a new one. And based on my experience, it seems to hold true. When I did a 40-day Daniel fast over a year ago, it caused lasting changes to my eating habits that are with me to this day.
So this year, I’m making nine resolutions, 40 days at a time. Some of them will be personal, and some of them will be writing-related. I’ll share here the writing-related ones as they pop up over the course of the year. If even a third of them have a lasting impact…well, it’ll be an interesting year.
Feel free to join me.
I like that approach and will give it a try. I have always avoided making resolutions as they tend to get broken easily but this may work. Good luck!
Thanks! Come back here and let me know how it goes!
Glad to see you’re doing this, Caleb.
I recently posted my own New Year’s Resolutions, inspired by the Jasons (Rodriguez and Copland).
Here’s to the lot of us doing great things this year in comics!
[...] reading a lot of fellow comic book creators resolution posts, however, I started to realize that I did, in fact, [...]
I read yours and the Jasons’ resolutions last night, Elton. Good luck to us all!
Hmmm, great idea. I like it. And when you’re done, you can write a story about it. Maybe call it “Forty Days, and Forty Night.” Oh wait…
Seriously, man, I look forward to hearing about your successes.
[...] Zen to Done by Leo Babauta (I came across him when I discovered his 30 day challenges, which are essentially much-better-thought-out versions of my own Nine Resolutions) [...]