I’m not a big fan of new year’s resolutions, I never have been. That being said, there is still an undeniable sense of finality at the end of the year, and a sense of promise to what lies ahead. Like walking through a door from one room to another, I can sense the new year opening in front of me, with all sorts of things to discover.

We’ve already established that I’m a list maker. I have lists and I have lists of lists. I even have bulleted sublists on my lists. That’s how I organize my thoughts, and get my virtual ducks in a row. There’s a meme out there, “I don’t have ducks and they aren’t in a row. I have squirrels and they are at a rave”. Oh how I get that. So my lists are getting my squirrels to at least swing dance rather than running a mosh pit. But I digress.

So this time of year, I see a lot of people making huge resolutions for the new year, and very rarely does anything come of it. To my thinking, a resolution without a plan is like a tent without poles. It’s there but it’s not going to stand up to anything or be very useful. Last year I wanted to accomplish 2 things. I wanted to get healthier (by way of losing weight) and I wanted to quilt one quilt top a month of mine. At the end of the year, I have lost over 50 lbs and drastically improved my quality of life, and I got two quilts done, and those were gifts. I didn’t quilt anything of my own.

Looking closer at the situation over the last few weeks, I realized that the weight loss goal I approached with a detailed plan. I signed up for a lifestyle program and I had a coach and I had weekly check ins. There was a lot of information and each week I evaluated progress towards my goal and made adjustments to what I was doing to keep forward progress. Between January and June, I lost 45 pounds. I lost another 5 since the end of July. I am keeping myself on track by continuing the weekly evaluation and tracking my weight and keeping an eye on my lifestyle.

The quilting, never got past the point of “I want to quilt one top a month”. That’s a grand statement. I did not have a list of tops that needed quilting. I did not dig out anything in the fabric room. I did not make sure that I had backing fabric pieced and ready to load on the long arm. So while I thought the goal I set was reasonable (one quilt every 4 weeks off the long arm) NOTHING happened. I see now that this year, I need not only the resolution of quilting my own things but I need to put the framework in place to see that it happens. I need to tee up 3 or 4 quilts right away that have backing already to go so that I can load them on the long arm with little extra effort. once I get one or two done, I need to keep getting things ready in the pipe line so that I always have several things all prepped and ready to quilt. I also need to put time on my calendar dedicated to quilting with the long arm. Rather than relying on an open weekend here and there to miraculously turn into a quilting marathon, I need to schedule time regularly. I am confident based on how the weight loss last year went, that with a detailed plan and good preparation, this year I will make my long arm goal a reality too.

So what resolutions have been rumbling around in your head? Are they resolutions or are they actually plans? What steps can you take to get those tent poles out and get your tent setup for success?