Ah, so that’s another year gone. Once upon a time I would lament all the things I had not managed to achieve – not getting an agent for the novel, not being published, or winning no competitions; hell, sometimes it was even not bothering to enter those competitions. Always the focus was on the things I didn’t do.
Now, it’s different. Now I focus on the positives, the tasks I did get done, the accolades I have collected. Self-publishing my short story collection, being published in a Comma Press anthology, being shortlisted in a competition…Whatever the things I didn’t do, it doesn’t really matter. Do you know why? Because I still have chance to do all of those things in 2019.
Most of the things we regret are the things we didn’t do, and that’s fine. But there is a balance to be had. You don’t think about all the amazing stuff you did because you did it and it’s in the past, all of those tasks left undone those are the ones that bubble to surface instead. However, this new year I challenge you to flip this and make a huge, great list of everything you did do. Not just the successes, but the efforts too. It all counts. If you entered competitions and didn’t win, or submitted to an agent or three and heard nothing but rejections back – these tiny little slivers of effort demonstrates how you committed to your goals.
It should also be remembered that sometimes, we have no direct control over the outcomes. You can’t force an agent to sign you as a client, or make a judge choose your story as the winning entry – not really. So you shouldn’t be focusing on those types of ‘have nots’ anyway. If you submitted anything, that’s a win. That’s a clear sign of progress. Perhaps you didn’t submit at all, perhaps all you did was write more words, or manage to finish a story, or even just put pen to paper or fingers to keyboards for the very first time. Celebrate these things. Even a small step forward is still the right direction. You only have control over your own actions, so all you can do is try your best and make it count.
Start 2019 with your head held high for all the positive action you took in 2018. Forget about the regrets, or the ‘should have done’ tasks, because they don’t really count. What matters is you made it. And if you should have any lingering regrets then write them down, figure out an action plan, and stick to it in the new year. Let’s face it, you don’t want to end 2019 with the same regret; right?
But the key thing is to remind yourself of all the good you did, and take that with you into the new year. That’s all you need; the truth of it is, starting the year with a positive mantra of all you have achieved will give you that much more confidence, and perhaps a pinch of bravery. And who knows what might come out of that…