Goals and resolutions

In comes another new year! And with it comes the predictable onslaught of New Year's resolutions-themed blog posts, ads and tv shows, along with gym memberships and plastic storage containers. Not very exciting in January. Neither is setting myself up for another cycle of failing and beating myself up for it. So here’s my little secret: I quit making New Year’s resolutions. I stopped years ago. I really don’t need the frustration they bring during the most depressing month of the year.

In comes another new year! And with it comes the predictable onslaught of New Year's resolutions-themed blog posts, ads and tv shows, along with gym memberships and plastic storage containers. Not very exciting in January. Neither is setting myself up for another cycle of failing and beating myself up for it. So here’s my little secret: I quit making New Year’s resolutions years ago. I really don’t need the frustration they bring during the most depressing month of the year.

But it’s also because of my philosophy about starting new things. It is my experience that if something is worth doing, it doesn’t need to wait. If you wait, it probably won’t get done. It’s like getting out of bed. When the alarm goes off in the morning, I hate getting up. If I bounce out of bed right away and get my feet moving, I’m good to go. But if I hit snooze a couple of times, check emails and look at Facebook as part of my wake up process, I have a hard time getting out of bed. I may even go back to sleep. If I bounce out of bed, I wake up. If I wait to get out of bed, I risk being late for work.

For fun, I Googled how long it takes to create a habit. I found answers ranging from 21 to 66 days. No wonder so many people fail to keep their resolutions! If New Year’s resolutions were formed in the spring or summer versus the dead of winter, I wonder if more resolutions would turn into habits.

So this year, I think I’m going to revive an old habit that I kicked. I’m making a New Year’s resolution. My resolution for this year is to choose to do things, to follow through with them, and to not allow myself to make excuses. Not to kick myself when I don’t do it. And most importantly, when I fall off, to dust myself off, and pick back up again. So there you have it. Not so much a resolution, but more of a strategy to handle all the other “ought-to-do’s” in my life that I shouldn’t wait for the dead of January to start.

So what are your New Year’s resolutions? And if you don’t make any, that’s okay: what are your goals that you are currently working towards? I’d love to know what your goals and aspirations for 2018 are.

And a happy New Year.