New resolve

Every January 1st, millions of people make millions of new year's resolutions, abstract statements aimed to drastically change their lives over the next 365 days. And yet by the following December 31st, many people haven't met one single resolution.

But why? Surely people are capable of meeting goals, otherwise no one would ever really accomplish anything. And heck, they have a whole year to do it!

The problem with resolutions, though, is that we set big, lofty, year-long goals and then we get impatient, tired, and discouraged. In a society of instant gratification, a year becomes too long to stick with something so seemingly impossible. And one month into the new year, we've lost steam and pretty much jumped ship. For example, many people resolve to lose weight at the beginning of the year. They say, "This year I'm going to lose 50 lbs. No! 60 lbs! Yeah!" But when February rolls around and they've lost only a couple of pounds, the end seems so far away that they abandon the means and go for that slice of cake after all.

So what if instead of setting grand yearly goals we broke up that goal into monthly, weekly, or even daily goals? Then it wouldn't be one insurmountable mountain, but a much more do-able set of steps. Both lead to the same place, but it's the way we get there that makes the difference. In other words, if we set ourselves up to succeed, we probably will.

That's why this year I'm not going to make a resolution in the traditional sense. But I am going to make some easy changes to my daily routine that should lead to some big changes in my life.

Lately, one of the major themes of my life has been gratitude. I mentioned a bit about that in this post a few months ago when I started a gratitude journal to help me recognize the good things in my life and to help me stay present in good moments. Sadly, my journal efforts fizzled out in the past couple of months or so, and I have found myself complaining more than usual about the little things. So this year, I "resolve" to be more grateful by consciously recognizing the good in my life. Whether that means writing it down in the gratitude journal, saying it out loud, or jotting a quick thank you note, I will be more aware of my gratitude. In fact, I was inspired to share my gratitude with others after reading about a man who wrote one thank you note a day to the people in his life, which you can see here.

The more I think about it, maybe the best way to accomplish a resolution is by not calling it a resolution. How's that for a little reverse psychology?

So what about you all? Any non-resolutions this year? Happy 2011!