Series No. 1.0
Mission Statement

Overcoming Failure

**Quotes in image provided below post for translation.

How many of us have made a New Year's resolution? Did you have a plan? I bet you did, and I can also bet that has already been thrown out the window. What could have possibly gone wrong?

I had a resolution. I wanted to make time for my hobbies. I picked out my goals, determined a system to track them, then devised a plan to achieve them. I had even planned a whole post to let you in on it. Guess what! Halfway into Week 4* and nothing has worked out or seems accomplished. That is why I am making my New Year's resolution into a learning series, and its for both you and me!

This all started when I was urged to join the Steem community. My account was created at least 3 weeks before I ever made my first, and so far only, post. I just didn't know what to do. I had hit a level of complacency in my life. I had given up my music, art, and learning for the sake of learning. I had goals, but no actual plan to accomplish them. In fact, beyond school and stating my goals, I have not had the time to work harder on them. Okay, instead of revising the last sentence I will let you see the change. In fact, beyond school and stating my goals, I have not GIVEN myself the time to work harder on them. So far I have answered two of the three questions presented at the beginning of this post, I did have a resolution and a plan. I still have to answer what went wrong, but let's start at the beginning.

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My Steem account was created before January 1, 2019. As I said, I didn’t have a clue about what to write. I was feeling rushed to find a reason to post. I couldn't even come up with an introduction, because I didn’t want to only have that for three months. I began to realize how often people I knew would mention that all I did was care for my family. I had given up my art and music. I also started to notice that it was harder and harder to take care of my own health. I was pushing myself onto the back burner. So, for the first time in years, I made an actual New Year's resolution. I planned to spend more time focusing on my hobbies.

After a goal is set you have to have a plan to accomplish the goal. My plan included one day a week for artistic expression, one day a week to experiment in the kitchen, and two days a week posting about my experience. I even incorporated teaching my niece art and working on my son's science experiments to help me get into the groove of things. The first week of my year was spent planning my introduction. I drew a picture, played with Lego's, reviewed my photo album, and caught up on my rusty coding. By the second week I had my very first post. I was happy with it. I even enjoyed doing it.

The next step to change is to make sure you can track the change. Tracking changes allows you to see where you are at in accomplishing your goal. To track my changes I made a portfolio for my art, a binder for experimental recipes, and a folder for any writing on the computer. I would be able to look at everything to see how I advanced, if I found the amount of material to be considered consistent, and I could refer to anything that I have done.

Finally, you have to have something holding you accountable. Sometimes you can do this on your own, other times you need someone to encourage your continuance, and other times you just need to make a public statement. Outside sources of accountability make sure that you do what you say. In fact, posting to Steem was my accountability plan. When I realized that I had not posted anything after my introduction, I knew that I was not doing what I said I wanted to. My plan worked in this aspect.

Knowing what I want, and knowing my original plan failed, is not the end of it. Since my accountability source told me I wasn't doing what I planned, I know that either the plan doesn’t work or it doesn't interest me. I have looked into it and found that it just didn't work for me. I was trying to shove to many things in all at once. Now I have to re-do my plan to change, which is always an acceptable option. I mean, can we call it a "Plan for Change" if we can't change the plan?

“You become strong by defying defeat and by turning loss and failure into success.”
-Napoleon Bonaparte

I made a plan and it was a failure. I failed to enact my part of the plan. I let other things get in the way and used them as an excuse. Rather than continuing that excuse, I have decided to accept the fact that I failed myself. With that acceptance I am able to take a hard look at myself and try to find a plan that will work. Let's see how I can turn this failure into a success!

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*Post actually being made during Week 5.
**Quotes from image (listed top to bottom):

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that's won't work."
-Thomas Edison

"Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something."
-Morihei Ueshiba

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
-Henry Ford

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
-Albert Einstein

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."
-Winston Churchill