“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”  ─ Charles  Haddon Spurgeon

Today is the second day of January. This is the day that I’m glad that I no longer make New Year’s Resolutions. The word resolution sounds so final. Maybe that’s why it is easy to give up on them the first time we “break” them. People have told me that they don’t make resolutions because not keeping them made them feel like they had failed.

In my day job I am an Instructional Designer. The first thing I do for any training or communication that I’m working on is to set the goal. Part of the process is to actually formalize it: Upon completion of this training, the student should be able to…A goal is something that we work toward. We are not expected to get there immediately. This is why I like them. They allow for imperfections and are much friendlier.

I love the image of the two snails slowly making their way to the ark while being passed by thundering rhinos, zebras, gazelles and everyone else.  The point is that the snails got there.

My writing career is a lot like that. I took a long time publish MacCullough’s Women leaving it at the bottom of my desk drawer when life got busy. I set two goals for 2012. After thinking about it, I decided that two was enough for this year. The first was to publish Francesca’s Foundlings and the second was to get as fit as I possibly can be.

Think of 2012 as a diary filled with blank pages waiting to be written on. Life is a journey best enjoyed by moving purposefully toward your goals at your pace. The point is to get there.

Did you set any goals for 2012 ?

Move toward your goals with baby steps.