The first step to not entering a novelette into a short story is to get yourself in the right frame of mind.  This usually involves copious amounts of playing Civ4, writing computer programs, and watching downloaded episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- but to be honest anything will do so long as it gets you in the right frame of mind.  How can you can tell you are in the right frame of mind?  If you're not thinking about writing a short story, you're already there.

The second habit of highly effective non-writers is to be awesome.  Some might argue that awesomeness is subjected, but those people are stupid so ignore them.  To be truly awesome, you must occasionally post snarky replies to diaries on husi and of course lurk in the IRC channel instead of preparing for your job interview on Wednesday.  If you are awesome, this dramatically increases the chance of your non-entry to take first prize in any competition.

The third and final pillar of non-entry success is to be distracted on the day that the competition is closing for entries.  All too many people remember to be awesome and don't get into the right frame of mind, but then at the last minute they get a burst of energy and complete one anyhow.  The best remedy for preventing this type of problem is to cut off your hands, but failing that you could try something else like designing a ridiculous (but truly awesome) image map navigation system for your website or post inane content on your blog.

I hope this lesson has been valuable to all you non-enterers out there -- with any luck you too can be a champion someday just like me.  Well, hopefully not just like me.