How do you measure success? How do you know when you’ve accomplished one of your goals? What does that look like for you? As I’ve edited all of the stories for this month, there is a lot of talk about New Year’s resolutions, as expected. What kept sticking out to me was how such a large percentage of us “fail” at keeping these resolutions, statistically by February. This doesn’t sit well with me, and I think it’s going to boil down to how you define failure.

Every month, every production cycle, I strive for perfection. Every edition, I feel that I’ve done better than the month before to ensure there are no mistakes, everyone got credit for the work they did, and every article and advertisement is accounted for. Without exception, once the printed paper is in my hands, I always find “just one more thing” that could have been done differently, was overlooked, or was downright incorrect.

Did I fail? Am I a failure? I don’t think so.

Here’s why I don’t think I’m failing: I tried. I tried hard. I put my heart and soul into my work. I gave it my best efforts. When I work on a project, I want it to be amazing or I don’t want to spend the time on it. And here’s what I think is the key: I am able to find the amazing results and see all the hurdles overcome and still feel proud of the finished product despite the imperfection. And I will keep striving to be as close to perfect as I am able.

This is all just my opinion. I don’t have statistics to back myself up here. I just don’t believe you’ve really failed unless you stop trying. So, I encourage all of you reading this today – don’t let anyone else define what success means for you! Only you can determine what your success looks like.

Now, I am not discrediting any of our amazing writers! Please don’t misunderstand me! You’re going to find a lot of great advice here about how to define measurable goals for yourself and create meaningful and helpful habits. And I am personally looking forward to 2019 a great deal!

For me, success is measured in my overall happiness and my outlook on the future. Like so many of you, I suffer from anxiety and high-functioning depression. However, I am still an optimistic person in general. I can still feel happy about my life and my decisions even when times are tough and the moment is sad. I can still look forward to better days ahead, even on the days I feel like giving up. I know that if I hang in there and keep trying, I have succeeded. And I measure that success one day at a time.

So, perhaps it’s not that 80% of us are failing. Perhaps we are measuring our success in the wrong ways. Or, perhaps we don’t see that we’ve not yet reached the finish line and call it a failure before the race is complete.

I’m grateful for a very trying, demanding and scary 2018, full of tears, fears, and days that felt like they would never end. It was a rough year, but I’m grateful for everything I learned along the way. I’m happy to see that I am stronger than I thought. I’m surprised to learn that I could handle a few situations that I didn’t expect to be able to survive. And I don’t think I’ve ever been as optimistic about the New Year as I am right now.

There is so much left to accomplish! And we are surrounded by amazing people and resources, which give us a head start. I would feel ungrateful if I didn’t mention that part of my enthusiasm for the upcoming year comes from having such amazing people to work with. Just today, I was mentioning to our publisher, Rhys Lynn, how I’ve made some of the most amazing connections with incredible people through this job.

Hold on to your hats because we’ve got an exciting year planned for the Nonahood! We will not fail. We might have varying degrees of success with bumps and bruises along the way, but we will succeed! So, don’t confuse a setback with a failure. And don’t forget to enjoy the ride.

[Publisher’s Note: Next month, Elaine will be replaced by a robot that is actually perfect.]