2023 Resolutions and Reevaluations

Well, here we are again. Another new year, another new post.

When I sat down to read through what I wrote for last year’s goals, I thought I would be disappointed that I didn’t accomplish any out of the four I set but I’m surprisingly ok with it. What I’ve come to realize is that as long as I’m making an effort toward my goals, then I’m doing alright.

I keep reminding myself that slow progress is better than no progress and there’s no point in beating myself up over it.

So when my goal of “Finish Writing a Novel” didn’t happen, I was ok with it because I wrote over 28,000 words of a mafia romance that had zero words at the beginning of the year. While I still struggle to write every day, I have gotten more intentional with how I spend my time instead of doom scrolling non-stop.

“Finish Writing a Screenplay” might’ve been a stretch goal but it got me paying attention more critically to movies again which will ultimately help me write better screenplays. There’s no better film school than watching movies and reading screenplays.

My goal of “Get Paid to Write” may not have happened but I have made some wonderful connections with other writers that could lead to better opportunities down the road. I know writing is not a path to “get rich quick” so while it is frustrating being stuck in a job that doesn’t align with my goals, I am fortunate enough to be able to work on those goals in my off time.

My last goal, “Commit to Blogging,” I have to be honest, fell to the back burner and was essentially forgotten about. I only wrote two other blog posts after my 2022 Goals post and then *poof* that was it. Once again, I was putting pressure on myself that was unnecessary and the blog plan was an unfortunate casualty.

Besides those previous four goals, there is one more that deserves mentioning. My Goodreads Reading Challenge. I lowered my original goal of 52 to 40 sometime in November because again, I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself. Lowering the number allowed me to just enjoy reading my books instead of feeling like I was racing against time. I ended at 41 books read which is the most amount of books I’ve read in a single year as an adult.

Now that we’re done looking back, it’s time to look forward to 2023. (Which, I’m sorry, is a really ugly number that nobody likes. I blame Blink-182.)

For 2023, I decided I’m not setting any new goals.

I shouldn’t need to track my productivity to decide whether or not I had a good year. Yes, I am still going to work on my novels and read as much as I can, and yes, I’m still going to strive to be better in other areas of my life but I’m done putting a deadline on being happy with my accomplishments. Even if I only read one book out of my goal of 50 this year I’ll count that as a win because I still read one book. Even reading zero books counts as a win because simply existing in this increasingly stressful world counts as a win.

So here we go again. Another year. Same goals. Let’s do this.

Thanks for reading,

Ilona F. Toth

Keep an eye out for Books Read in 2022.

How did your goals for 2022 go? What goals are you setting for 2023? I’d love to hear about it!