How Champagne Bubbles Affect Your Goals

Clinking champagne glasses and lots of bubbles in the air

I love the clean slate of a new year.

You didn’t work out three times each week? No biggie. Make it a New Year’s resolution!

You didn’t stuff 20% of each paycheck into a savings account? Have no fear. This will be the Year of the Piggybank!

You didn’t finish writing that romantic comedy novel you keep blathering on about? Hark! January 1 will launch you down the path to greatness!

We enter the new year bursting with so much motivation, we couldn’t possibly fail this time, right? Right?! Bueller?!?

Unfortunately, progress sometimes (always) slows to a crawl right around the time

Punxsutawney Phil begins searching for his shadow. (To be fair, there’s a lot riding on the outcome of Punx’ quest. It’s easy to lose focus.)

And if that’s not enough of an excuse, here’s another:

Motivation was never meant to last!

MOTIVATION

According to Cambridge Dictionary, motivation is just enthusiasm for doing something. It’s what you feel when you’re inhaling champagne bubbles on New Year’s Eve. But those motivational bubbles pop quickly (ergo, drink fast.)

But all is not lost! Cambridge Dictionary has another word for us!

DETERMINATION

Determination is the process of deciding something. It’s also the ability to continue trying to do something, even if it is difficult.

Motivation might be the kick in the pants that gets us started, but determination will get us over the finish line.

So here goes…(deep breath)…

I am determined to finish writing my romantic comedy book in 2024

I want the book ready for external editing by the end of the summer. It will be tight, but possible. It’s a good thing Cam Dic informed us that determination is the ability to continue trying to do something, even if it is difficult!

Bold Goals and Incremental Changes

I highly recommend the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Clear talks about the power of tiny, incremental changes in behavior. Success isn’t about lofty goals, he argues. According to Clear, small behavioral changes to our daily routines lead to results.

I believe that bold goals provide a “North Star.” They help us visualize success and set our determination. But I agree with Clear that it’s the accumulation of small actions over time that will help us sustain our motivation and ultimately achieve success.

Clear would probably advise me to set a goal of writing for five minutes each day, because it’s easy to accomplish and therefore likely to become a habit, which would ultimately lead to successfully writing my book.

I agree with that, if all I wanted to do was establish a discipline to last a lifetime and finish writing a book at some point in the future.

But most of the time, I love writing. So, establishing the regular writing habit shouldn’t be too hard.

I want to establish the habit AND finish a novel by the end of 2024 (and a solid draft by the end of the summer.)

I won’t finish my book in 2024 with only five minutes of writing each day.

So, what actions will I take?

My action plan is to write for at least twenty minutes a day, five days each week.

I did the math, and based on my average writing speed, I’ll finish my rough draft by end of February, fill in the gaps by end of March, and complete a second solid draft by end of May. Some days I’ll write for four hours, some days for fifteen minutes. Some weeks I’ll write every day, some weeks I’ll use my laptop to play the bongos (well, technically, the bongo. But I’m a writer. Very creative. I can make it work).

My action plan is not a stretch goal; it’s a plan. And I’m determined to stick with it. As for working out? Five minutes each day sounds just about perfect!

How about you? What are you determined to do in the coming year?

Let me know in the comments and let’s reach the North Star together!

Post Category:
Random RomCom, The Journey
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2 Responses

  1. Kim — OUTSTANDING Article! TGIF! I would LOVE to “Partner” with You on Motivating Each Other to Achieve Our ”Book Completion” Goals! Zachary has Now Written 69+ Pages of “Actual Book” since November 20th! FUN!!

    1. I assume this is Michael 🙂 Thanks so much! You and Zachary clearly have great momentum. That’s fantastic! Do you have a goal for January? Let’s check back in at the end of the month and see where we are. We are doing this, my friend!

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