If year after year you make the same resolution only to break it soon after the year begins, it may be time to examine your real motivations. That’s where we find ourselves with June.
June, for years, has wanted to write a children’s book. I have heard about the book many times.
I am not a child, making it hard for me to judge the nonexistent book’s validity. I can tell you, as an adult, I would not read this book other than as a supportive friend. But again, it’s for children. The fact that June doesn’t knows any children doesn’t seem to dissuade her from the task.
However, June never actually gets to the task. She spends a lot of time talking about writing it, but she doesn’t ever work on it.
We talked about different experiments this month. June said she would write 15 minutes a day for a while or set aside two hours on a Sunday to work on it. She tried to write the book on a legal pad. She tried to talk the text into a recorder and then transcribe it. None of these things got off the ground.
For years, nothing has launched this story, which leads to a discussion that you may need to have with yourself. If you’ve said you want to do something forever, why haven’t you started?
The problem isn’t that June doesn’t have the work ethic or the time—she happily works on other projects. She is good at prioritizing her booming hand-crafted candy hearts business with Valentine’s Day coming up.
Some people like to think of themselves as the kind of person who would tackle a task. They like thinking about the idea of starting a company, writing a book or playing the oboe. But they don’t necessarily want to be on the hook for the results. June can stall indefinitely on the children’s book or turn off the engine.
If I were to give her advice, I would tell her to have some funeral-like ceremony and move on. She needs to bury the project and alleviate the guilt of not focusing on it.
I would never give June such advice. I’m a good friend who wants to let her control her own children’s book purgatory.
Much like I wouldn’t read her children’s book, June doesn’t read my writing. And so, I don’t worry that she will stumble across this suggestion. If she asks, I’ll tell her that I passed on assessing her New Year’s Project and that she definitely shouldn’t read anything entitled, It is not a Treat to Treat us Like Children.
We have one contestant left to document on his New Year’s resolution. Our hope rests on Mr. Jones and his sticky notes. Maybe he’s written a book for children that grownups can ignore this month?
We’ll find out soon.
Mr. Jones—Start Writing Daily
June—Write a Children’s Book—Eliminated
Ricard’s Six Resolutions—Eliminated
Pat—Workout More—Eliminated
Mario—Play the Guitar—Eliminated