Which do you prefer, 8 or 80? When it comes to New Year's Resolution success rates, neither is good.

The hard fact is that only 8% of people achieve their New Year's resolutions, and 80% of New Year's Resolutions fail by February.

Why? Zillions of brainiacs infinitely smarter than me have written gazillions of erudite articles explaining the phenomena, but I think it comes down to one word: FEAR.

Ok, even MORE articles have been penned - especially in the study of psychology - as to why fear hobbles our lives. Fear is so common-a-concept in our world that we have kinda lost respect for its power.

Freelance fears especially hit home for voice actors because as lone individual business people, we tend to second-guess our hunches to the point of paralysis.

Fear of failure is the biggie. But fear is a natural part of being human. It should be expected and anticipated, and when handled right is always a portal to opportunities and fresh starts.

Sure, I have high hopes, big plans, and even some complicated designs on 2019 for my voice acting business. But I haven't written them down, and I don't have a complicated calendar of those goals broken down into daily or hourly tasks.

I'm not fearful of failure, in fact, I fail a lot. I guess I'm just too impulsive and freedom-loving to hamstring my day with confining and crippling rules, arbitrary goals, and calendar-driven resolutions.

Instead, I "reset" with a new energy and a nod to discipline continually.

I'll keep lists, set deadlines, post reminders, and make appointments with myself. I've always held that while goals are laudable and measurable, they are also most susceptible to abandonment. Maybe it's just semantics, but "reset" works better for me.

Refreshing your processes or your procedures with a reset allows for a Plan B that creates healthy habits in the long run.

But don't take my word for it. Set resolutions and goals if that works for you. Your intellect, emotions, skills, and lifestyle are unique to you, and that means you have to find what works best for you in YOUR circumstance.

Test, Fail, Learn, Improve, Re-enter. Do THAT, and you'll rise above the 8 and the 80.