In this post:
Good timing is important, but sometimes you need to do something when you find time.
—
It’s the end of the first month of a new year: 2025.
Did you make any resolutions? Did you resolve not to make any?
I’m more of a goal setter than a resolver.
My goals include writing Airman’s Writings Posts 43 (this one) through 54 and completing a GMAT/GRE. These are not sexy goals, but mundanity is underrated.
A lot of people set goals for the year. Popular ones are losing some amount of weight or stopping smoking.
A lot of people also quit – so much for resolution, eh?
While considering what to write for this month, I thought about resolutions and goals. My timing for my monthly posts has not always been perfect – at least two of my monthly posts took up to a month longer than they were “supposed” to take to post, but I still finished them.
The quality of my posts is also not always great in my own view. However, while the quality is important, it’s simply the completion that truly matters.
People that try to lose weight usually have two non-exclusive options: consume fewer calories or burn more calories. When put this way, it sounds fairly simple. For the sake of managing a long term goal, there are usually daily goals. Someone trying to lose weight might set a daily or weekly goal such as ‘eat no more than x calories’ or ‘burn x calories’ but find themselves beyond their self-set limit or below their self-set bar.
Even if more days are successful than not, those ‘failures’ can be discouraging.
The person might blame themselves for these failures and, eventually, surrender the goal for failure to believe its attainability – failure to believe in themselves.
If you believe something about your world, then you’ll feel, think, and behave in ways that align with that belief.
If you believe you never have time for something, then you never will have time for it.
If you believe you have enough time, even if it isn’t always convenient, then you’ll have some time.
—
I started this blog some three and a half years ago for various reasons. Among those reasons: I want to write. I want to be better at writing. Besides telling stories, I want to help people.
I conceived of writing an essay a month for six years – the average length of time an Air Force captain is a captain before promoting to major. The essays would/ will generally align with my experiences in the military or current events in some way.
Such a commitment or goal might be considered a resolution.
I believe that I can get all the way to Post 72 (hence 72 Airman’s Writings), which I think is incredibly helpful for how I feel about my ability to complete my goal.
I think I can do it because, after Post 1, I had proof I could do it once. After completing Post 42 last month, my confidence in the steady progress toward my goal is quite high – perhaps infallible at this point.
As mentioned before, my posts aren’t always on time.
On occasion, I take 2-4 weeks longer to finish a monthly post than I planned to. I still think I can finish Post 72 in May 2027, but if I’m a month or two late, I’ll still have finished over 60 or 70 posts. No one can take that away from me.
If I am only finished with Post 71 by the time 1 June rolls around that year, there will be zero value in blaming anyone, including myself, for Post 72’s tardiness or incompleteness. There is personal value only in finishing the final post when the time comes.
Believing that the only way the Posts get written is if I write them – regardless of distractions, unexpected events (or expected ones for that matter), or other disruptions – is the single strongest underlying catalyst for my progress. No one else is responsible for progress toward my goals, and no one will be to blame for me not reaching my goal.
The deadline is a convenience, not a requirement – we just gotta be sure to do the work.
72 Airman's Writings 