New Years Resolutions
It's interesting to think about New Year's Resolutions. As D and I (and several of his siblings) sat in a theater tonight, waiting for the play to begin, the conversation turned to his sister's resolution not to eat candy. (She claimed that her husband bought some candy and was offering it to all to bug her /try to get her to break her resolution). Now I thought that was an awesome resolution, but secretly thought to myself, "I'd never do that...but I probably should!"
Then came the question, "Why make resolutions at all? Nobody ever keeps them!" And so, when not paying attention to the play, I have been thinking about this. What makes New Year's Resolutions any different than other goals made during the year? Why should they be/are they more difficult to achieve? I haven't really been known to sit down and write a list of goals I would like to work on during the year...I just have a running weekly to-do list, sometimes on paper, often just in my head. So here's my question set: Why do you make New Year's Resolutions? Do you make them thinking you will fail? Or do you sit down and plan out how you will work on them/meet the goal?
Oh yeah, and here are some (definitely not all) of my goals for 2007:
1. Get a haircut and somehow stop the (insane) shedding!!
2. Get back to activity in my exercise group. Even once a week would be a vast improvement, at this point.
3. Feel a little more comfortable in my calling...I hate feeling so awkward all the time!
4. Finish reading the BOM in Albanian...I've never read it all the way through in my mission language (we didn't have it translated yet when I was over there)!
5. Get more sleep!
posted by B at 9:53 PM
3 Comments:
Good start with your list.
I don't think Man or Jeffe have any trouble with shedding. But, I don't think that method would help with feeling more comfortable in your calling.
God speed!
I've been thinking a lot about resolutions lately too. One of them should probably be to be more punctual, since it's Jan 7 and I still haven't posted about any of my own resolutions. (And also because we're always late to church.)
Anyway, I think it helps goal setting to have an evaluation point to stop and look back and who you are and where you've been, and I guess that's why New Year's Resolutions started because Jan 1 is an easy check-point.
I usually make resolutions that are small enough that I know I can keep them. Maybe that's cheating, but at least then I can feel good about making progress, however modest, instead of not living up to grander expectations.
OK, now it's probably time for me to make my own post instead of hijacking yours.
Good luck on your resolutions! I'm sure you'll be exercising your way to a great haircut and complete confidence in your calling while reading Albanian in no time at all.
Travis teaches a "Goal Setting Seminar" that would answer a lot of your questions. For me, my goals do not start in January, nor end in February. I used to think of goals as a "to do" list. And, I got a lot of feeling of accomplishment from checking things off of my list. However, goals have never had more meaning in my life until the time I asked myself, "if I knew I couldn't fail, what would my goals be?" Also, my "list of things to do" narrows down when I focus on one number one purpose and relate all the things I want to do to that purpose. (the things that are not important fall off of the list). Oh, I have also enjoyed life a lot more once I realized I don't have to do everything perfectly to be fulfilled.
Post a Comment
<< Home