Vanessa, you make me laugh. I *love* setting goals for the New Year, but unlike in my 20s when "lose 15 lbs" always made the list (eye roll), mine now are things I would like to get done and are 95% measurable and attainable -- and they help me stay on track through the year. I think of them more as smaller goals that are a subset of my life priorities a la Four Thousand Weeks.
I love what Peggy says about the word of the year - mine last year was "patience". It was a good reminder for me throughout the year.
Right there with you - though I hadn't quite thought of the New Years Resolution Industrial Complex, which actually made me laugh, except that it's kind of true - and goodness knows I have had enough "false starts" in resolutions made at various times during the year, no need to pile it on to the day with the Big Pressure. And bravo to the folks who work well under pressure for whom this works. All six or seven of them.
You know, what has been a more successful marker for me to hinge goals on, has actually been my birthday....though that too is far from foolproof, I still like it better. Maybe because it's mine, and not as crowded an event as New Year.
What I HAVE done for the past several years, is pick a Word for the Year, write it down, refer back to it, think about it from time to time. An intention, a north star, a compass, whatever you want to call it. It's not a specific THING to accomplish, but an attitude or overarching intention/direction/guide for how I want to live the coming year. And all the "things" I would resolve are tucked in there somewhere, too, but in a much more positive and human(e) way.
This isn’t a thing. On all of the levels that a thing cannot be, this doesn’t exist the most.
Do you know what’s dumber than New Year’s Resolutions you just won’t do!? Telling people that there is no way and no reason they will do something BECAUSE it’s a new year.
Vanessa, you make me laugh. I *love* setting goals for the New Year, but unlike in my 20s when "lose 15 lbs" always made the list (eye roll), mine now are things I would like to get done and are 95% measurable and attainable -- and they help me stay on track through the year. I think of them more as smaller goals that are a subset of my life priorities a la Four Thousand Weeks.
I love what Peggy says about the word of the year - mine last year was "patience". It was a good reminder for me throughout the year.
Right there with you - though I hadn't quite thought of the New Years Resolution Industrial Complex, which actually made me laugh, except that it's kind of true - and goodness knows I have had enough "false starts" in resolutions made at various times during the year, no need to pile it on to the day with the Big Pressure. And bravo to the folks who work well under pressure for whom this works. All six or seven of them.
You know, what has been a more successful marker for me to hinge goals on, has actually been my birthday....though that too is far from foolproof, I still like it better. Maybe because it's mine, and not as crowded an event as New Year.
What I HAVE done for the past several years, is pick a Word for the Year, write it down, refer back to it, think about it from time to time. An intention, a north star, a compass, whatever you want to call it. It's not a specific THING to accomplish, but an attitude or overarching intention/direction/guide for how I want to live the coming year. And all the "things" I would resolve are tucked in there somewhere, too, but in a much more positive and human(e) way.
“New Year’s Resolution Industrial Complex”
This isn’t a thing. On all of the levels that a thing cannot be, this doesn’t exist the most.
Do you know what’s dumber than New Year’s Resolutions you just won’t do!? Telling people that there is no way and no reason they will do something BECAUSE it’s a new year.
Some originality, please.