Why do people make resolutions at New Year’s? I’ve always thought it’s kind of a cliché. How effective are New Year’s resolutions anyway? Shouldn’t we just adjust our lives throughout the year? Theoretically, that sounds like a good idea. But I’m not very good at doing that. I woke up on New Year’s Day feeling blue. After taking some days off in December and enjoying all the holiday cheer, it’s back to the old grind, right?
I didn’t want to let go of the good times I had during those days off—getting together with friends, planning vacations, working in the yard during the unseasonably warm weather. I decided to shake it off by putting on my headphones and going for a long overdue run. It worked. I found myself reviewing everything I had done over the last few days and wanting to improve my life by doing more of the things I enjoy all year long.
Maybe that’s why New Year’s is a good time for resolutions. It’s not about punishing myself for things I’ve left “should have done” in the previous year. It’s about enhancing my life and making it more enjoyable.
For me, making improvements to my life doesn’t just happen. Being a good project manager, I have to plan them. I find this a lot easier to do at work than in my personal life. I set specific, measurable goals at the beginning of each fiscal year and review them regularly. I’ve managed to achieve most of them each year.
But I’m not so good at planning “good times” throughout the year. So, this year, I’ve given in to the cliché and made a few New Year’s resolutions. By the end of the year, I will:
1. Train for and run two 5Ks
2. Use my passport at least once
3. Go on two beach vacations
Do you normally make New Year’s resolutions? What resolutions will you make this year?
Great post! Sandie – If you run a 5K on a Greek island in the summer, could you knock out all three at once? 🙂
I try to make one or two resolutions each year, and for the past three years I’ve managed to fail by January 2nd. This year I failed on January 1st. BUT… just because I fell off the wagon of my resolution (not sure I really even got on the wagon), that doesn’t mean I failed for the year. I’ll try again in a few weeks!
That is a suggestion I am going to take seriously, Deb–thank you!
Re: falling off: it’s never too late to get back on. In fact, you even reminded us we can change our work goals if we want to!
Reflection is a critical task…kind of like Lessons Learned in a project! What do we want to do more of and what do we need to fix? It’s not designed to be negative, but to ensure continuous process improvement. We should take that continual improvement approach to our lives not just our work. Thanks for sharing Sandie!
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