New Year’s Resolutions
There’s nothing magical, spiritual or even technical about a “new year”. Our ancestors got along just fine without calendars and paid attention to the truly important things such as spring planting, fall harvest, and the various solstices which helped determine these.
Although our Western calendar may be dominant, it’s far from the only one. While the Orthodox calendar is the same as ours but with a lag, the Hebrew and Chinese calendars, for example, are not even close. Some are solar based, some are lunar based, some have other cycles. So, it’s not as if January 1 has some kind of solemn significance. It’s just another day.
But having dented our reverence for a specific day, let’s not rule out the importance of making resolutions to be a better person. They’re the stuff of which personal and societal progress is made. Unfortunately, making resolutions is much easier than achieving them.
The problem with heroic declarations is that while they look pretty good in the fiery glow of the campfire, they don’t do so well in the cold ashes of the morning. Like the rest of us, they have to get out of bed and put their feet on the cold floor. And after a couple of really dreary mornings, they’ll just crawl back into a warm bed, and that’s the end of that.
Like puppies and small children, you have to be firm and consistent with resolutions if you want them to turn out well. You need to understand what works, and what doesn’t. Here are a few practical ideas:
1. The more grandiose the resolution, the more likely it is to fail.
2. You’re certain to fall down, but you don’t need to stay down.
3. Each win makes the next one easier. Break big challenges into a series of more achievable consecutive steps.
4. Privately held resolutions generally are doomed. If you really want them to work, make a public commitment.
5. Resolutions made jointly with others have a better chance of survival. You may not want to get out of bed at 0530 to go for a run, but if you have a running buddy waiting for you, you’ll force yourself to put your feet on the floor.
6. Measurable progress helps keep you believing. Track the headway you’re making.
7. If there’s a prize, there’s a far better chance of success.
8. Within reason, if you lock the door and throw away the key, you’ll do better than if you put the key in your pocket, “just in case”.
Want to try something a little audacious? Send an e-mail to a reliable, discrete and true friend telling them what your simple, reasonable and achievable resolution is, and ask them to hold you accountable quarterly in 2020. Or better still, get them to be your “running buddy”. I dare you!
(And if you want something really tangible, set yourself a goal for “helping others”, and start by a contribution to our Australian cousins who are having a terrible time with fires. Here’s a link. (https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/general-news/how-you-can-help) )