It’s the tail end of New Year’s day here. And after a solid month of hearing people talk about how well they did on their 2017 goals, and their goals for the new year, I’ve come to a conclusion.

The first goal I need is to keep better track of the things I am doing. Let’s be honest. I’ve never been much of a record keeper. Anything that looks like organization or strategy… well, I probably stole it from someone else. So, at the end of the year, while everyone else is talking about how many books they read, and what categories those books were in, I’m standing around saying… well, I read books, too.

So, Goal Number One is record keeping. At the end of the year, I would like to actually know what I’ve done. That sounds reasonable enough.

Goal Number Two is to celebrate the progress as I mark it down. That makes sense, too, of course. I have a way of keeping my eye on the big goals–the literary agent, the publication, and so forth–and missing the little stuff as it goes by. That might just be another way of saying Goal Number One.

Goal Number Three? I’d like to keep up with my health, of course. Maybe get out and do something a little more often. I can’t decide on a format that would be shareable, at the moment. Something that’s more interesting than my Oxygen saturation rates, without sounding like bragging (or like I’m flopping around like a marathon-running seal.) Maybe a hobby that accumulates over time.

And you know all the professional mile-marker goals.

Maybe the key to everything really is write it down.

What about you? Goals? Methods of reaching those goals?