New Year’s resolutions
What are your new year’s resolutions?
I want to dig under all the marketing and find out what your real goals are. I have a feeling that media (TV, ads, internet etc) gives us an idea of what everyone else thinks, but it’s untrue.
We’re sold the idea of resolutions as a ‘new year new you’, that it’s all about joining the gym or booking flights. We’re asked to find ways to change ourselves and be better, which sounds like a noble idea except that it always involves buying something superficial.
Sure, self improvement can be a much needed kick in the pants – but it can also be a tiresome treadmill of comparison and poor self image. I have a feeling that real people have real resolutions that are far more meaningful.
For example, one friend made a resolution to apply for a new job each month and focus on roles that include a promotion. I really like this resolution because it doesn’t assume that she will be a new person from 1 January or even that she will be promoted by the end of the year. Instead, it puts her firmly in the path of opportunities that will no doubt change her life over time.
Best of all, there’s no pass/fail ultimatum if she hasn’t kept it up from day 1.
Instead of listing ways that I want to be different, or better, in 2017, I made a list of things I want to add to my life. Many of them are about putting new possibilities into motion – opening the door to see what comes through rather than prescribing an outcome.
There’s a lot of evidence that says goal setting is the best way to success. My partner sent me this on the topic just last night. I like how Dave Ramsey encourages people to acknowledge the control they have over their own lives and SMART goals work for practical change, but not for the pursuit of a meaningful life. Real people are so much messier and life, so unpredictable. I don’t know of anyone’s whose life went according to plan, do you?
I think life goes according to opportunity, which is both made and comes knocking. Neither involves wishing and hoping and waiting. We can prepare ourselves so that we’re ready take advantage of the latter, all the while actively creating the former so life moves forward in positive ways.
I hope the new year brings you many possibilities.
“You have to do it intentionally. It has to be your choice.”
Dave Ramsey
Muchness 
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