New Year’s Resolution

Since the grocery store already has Halloween candy out, I figured what the heck, why not start talking about New Year’s resolutions now!  Here are the things I love about New Year’s resolutions.

  1. There is hardly ever a consequence when you decide to quit in February. There is enough pressure in life and stress and if I need to bail on the no ice cream before bed policy that I thought up at 11:55 pm on New Year’s Eve, so be it.
  2. It’s only supposed to last a year.  So many times we try and think of goals and things to accomplish that are 10 or 15 years away.  The reality is that it is often hard to know how you’ll feel next year, let alone 5 years into the path you’ve laid out.  If you keep the length of the goal short, there is a better chance that the you of one year from now will be on the same page.
  3. You can come up with as many of them as you want.  Since there’s usually not a big consequence, the more you come up with, the more opportunity you have to actually complete one!
  4. Even if you fail, the process of thinking about what you want is a healthy exercise.  If you stick with it for a month, or two, or six months, that is still better than no commitment at all.
  5. You get another shot at the list on 12/31 of the upcoming year!  And, thanks to this blog post, you will be well equipped with some practical resolutions since you’ve been thinking about them for four months.

If you can’t think of any, here are some examples for you:

  1. Give $100 to a charity you’ve never heard of.
  2. Put $1 a day in a jar and at the end of the year, have everyone in your family over for a party.
  3. Try and go 3 days, every week, without spending money, not a cent, at all!

Happy New Year and Happy Friday!