I’ve always been a bit of a nerd, especially when it comes to words. As a child, I never met a dictionary I didn’t like, and upon learning of the existence of the synonym button, the lives of every teacher I had (save my math teachers) got significantly worse. We will never know how many times “big” needlessly became “Bunyenesque” in my fifth grade history papers, but we all have our silent shames and moments of middle school mortification–so they’re you go.

All that to say, I have now achieved my childhood dream of creating a word all my own, and you guessed it!

That word is fintago.

Now, my favorite language arts teacher ever, Ms. O’Malley, would probably be mildly annoyed that I in no way appealed to any Greek or Latin root words in order to accomplish this feat (best book for that here). Instead, I went the German route and just Frankensteined the words I wanted to convey a pretty straightforward message.

Find. Take. Go.

Fintago: verb, fintagoed, fintagoing. The act of finding your mark, taking aim, and hurtling towards your chosen target in full-on Forrest Gump fashion. Fintago.

I thought this was a relevant accomplishment to share given that we are now in a New Year because it’s resolution time! AKA fintagoing season.

By now, you’ve probably already compiled a list of things you want to accomplish in the New Year.

Unless you’re a hardcore procrastinator.

Like me. *grins*

Either way, by close of day today, most people will have fintagoed their way into guzzling a kale-egg white-spirulina smoothie, pumping more iron than Arnold at the gym, saran wrapping their wallets shut, and/or doing a whole host of other things they’ve been waiting the last 350-ish days to do!

Why have the been waiting 350-ish days?

Well, because January 11th 2019 (the second Friday of the month) was National Quitter’s Day. i.e. the day where the gallon bucket of Ben&Jerry’s was put back in the cart, every gym membership was cancelled, and wallets everywhere were freed from their planet-killing confines.

“Next year,” you said. “In 2020, I’ll try again.”

It’s 2020, friend.

Yet, sadly, it’s really true what they say:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

So come next Friday (plus or minus a few days), a good chunk of fintago-ers will have abandoned their various self-improvement projects with a wince and a wave, resigning themselves to walking as shamefaced quitters into the brand the new decade.

But not you!

Because I am going to share my full-proof plan for making sure you don’t throw in the towel again.

And it’s actually pretty simple. Because, at bottom, there are just THREE main reasons why people tend to give up on their “New Year-New Me” dreams, and once you get them nailed down, you’ll be ready to really fintago instead of falling into the quitter’s limbo.

So! Without further ado, here are the three major fintagoing pitfalls and my suggestions about how you can make sure they don’t get their hooks in you!

Pitfall #1: Your Resolution Is Too Shallow

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Viktor Frankl quotes Friedrich Nietzsche, writing, “He who has a why to live, can bear almost any how.” Now, while Dr. Frankl was writing about surviving the Holocaust (which is obviously a very different kettle of fish from sticking to one’s New Year’s resolutions), the principle still applies!

Oftentimes, when we make New Year’s resolutions, they go no further than the what level of understanding. You know…

Eat Healthy. Get Fit. Save Money. etc.

And those are all great!

But they’re also all pretty shallow, and while they might be good goals, without a compelling why, the what of those resolutions is probably not going to be strong enough to get you through the bumps and slumps that life loves to throw around.

I’ll give you an example.

One of my resolutions this year is to read through the book of Proverbs at least twice. That is what I intend to do. That is the what of my resolution.

But I can tell you right now, if that is as deep as my resolution goes, I’m going to be hitting snooze with the rest of world next Friday because while I may have a good goal, that alone is not going to be enough to get my butt out of bed on the days when the last thing I want to do is get up early to read my devotional.

However, with a compelling why thrown in, I stand a much, much better chance of resuscitating my will to awaken at 6:30 in the morning in order to read my Bible.

So… my simple fix to a shallow resolution is this:

Solution #1: Write Down The What Of Your Resolution And Then Tack On A “because…”

Here’s mine:

I’m going to read through Proverbs at least twice because I want everything I think, say, and do to be seasoned with salt, light, and wisdom so that I can positively influence both my close circle of friends and family as well as my wider community.

See the difference?

Try doing that with your resolutions and let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear from you 😀

Now, on to pitfall number two!

Pitfall #2: Your Resolution Is Too Simple

Confession time: Cultiv8ing Character was supposed to be up and running last year. Specifically in May of last year. Yeah… that didn’t happen.

Why?

Because from the outset, I’d oversimplified.

See, the Sarah with stars in her eyes who told her parents in April, “I’m going to start a blog” didn’t realize that websites don’t just pop out of thin air, and by the time the stars had fallen from my eyes, I’d almost given up half a dozen times.

Between figuring out WordPress, website design, hosting, basic coding, Mailchimp, and all the rest, it is a wonder I didn’t quit or stick my foot through the front end of my laptop in sheer frustration.

And I know I can’t be alone in feeling this way!

In fact, I would bet that almost all fintago-ers experience some kind of resolution disillusionment at one point or another since odds are they’re endeavoring to do something they’ve either never actually done before or never successfully done before, and that means the details of how they should go about it are going to be murky.

I may have failed my driver’s test over four times, but even I know that if you’re driving more or less blind, the best thing you can do is pull off to the side.

I mean, unless you want to die.

But I don’t want either of those things for you!

I want you flying down the road, clear-sighted and confident, accomplishing your goals one by one and having fun along the way!

So… What can be done?

Solution #2: Get Specific. Ignorance Is NOT Bliss.

No matter how simple, straightforward, easy, or obvious your resolution may appear, it is so important to get clear on as many of its bits and pieces as possible.

Otherwise, you’re going to be taken by surprise by something, whether it be the taste of food absent high fructose corn syrup, the time it takes to do more than a zombie shuffle around the gym, and/or the amount of money you need to squirrel away to even think about retiring one day.

In any of these cases, and in countless others, being caught unawares will only bring you that much closer to celebrating National Quitter’s Day as you’re handed an excuse to say, “Well, I didn’t know I’d have to do x, y, or z, so right now, this resolution just isn’t feasible for me.”

If you do that, I will know, and I will come find you, you limp noodle.

So do your due diligence and either research the bits and pieces of your resolution yourself or ask someone more informed than you about the things you’re going to need to do.

If you have to postpone your start date in order to do this, so be it!

Better to start in later and informed rather than be early and ignorant because, speaking from personal experience, the frustration that follows ignorance in action is the number one enemy of effort and achievement bar none, especially if you feel you’re going it alone.

Which brings me to the final pitfall…

Pitfall #3: Your Resolution Is A Secret.

If your resolution is a secret, you’re not going to keep it. Period.

I know. I know. It’s disheartening that we have so little self-control that we can’t even manage to hold to our own self-imposed goals, but there you go.

The truth hurts.

But thankfully, as with pitfall number one, the solution is super simple!

Solution #3: Accountability. Accountability. Accountability.

You must–YOU MUST–tell people your resolutions.

Seriously, if you do nothing else on this list, do this because accountability is so, so key if you want to succeed past a couple of weeks.

HOWEVER.

While I 100% believe telling someone is better than telling no one, I would strongly recommend you look for two categories of people when you go to share because these groups will hold you accountable like no other.

They are:

1. People you respect.
2. People who love you enough to want more for you.

Why these two groups?

Well, because they respectively cover the passive and active forms of accountability better than any other.

Basically, once you tell these people your resolutions, you 1) really won’t want to let the people you respect down, and 2) the people who love you enough to want more for you will actively help you turn your life around.

Thus, both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for sticking to your resolutions will have been secured, hopefully keeping you from falling prey to National Quitter’s Day!

Hurray!

Oh, in the spirit of accountability, here are my current resolutions for 2020:

1. Read through Proverbs at least twice because I want everything I think, say, and do to be seasoned with salt, light, and wisdom so that I can positively influence both my close circle of friends and family as well as my wider community.
2. Post 52 blog posts on CC, ideally one every week, because I want to become a better writer and reflector whilst improving my time management skills and self-discipline.
3. Finish the Young Adult Fantasy-Adventure novel I’ve had cooking for the last FOUR YEARS and query it because I want to prove to myself that I can complete a full-length, quality piece of fiction and have a shot at being traditionally published.

I really hope these tips and tricks help you stick to your resolutions and fintago your way into this New Year and new decade, but do remember, friends, no matter what happens next Friday, it is never, ever, too late to change.