Embracing Possibility: Creating a New Year
Now my
best friend Susie would tell you, if she were with me today, that New
Year\’s Resolutions just don\’t work. She doesn\’t make them. She doesn\’t
believe in them. She\’s my personal New Year\’s Scrooge. And, to be fair,
she has a point. If your Resolutions never move from a vague intention
or an item on a list, they will indeed languish in the land of wishful
thinking. There is a way, however to make them reality. And that
involves a little ‘Zen Organizing\’ and some old-fashioned elbow grease.
I\’d like to break the process down for you and then you can decide
whether those are wishes or goals you\’ve written down.
OK. To
start, just go for it. Make a list of all the things you\’d like to
accomplish this year. Don\’t hold back. A typical list would have some
of these items:
One year
in late December, I was watching the local news. I was at once amused
and touched by a man who was asked if he had any New Year\’s
Resolutions. He said: “Well, I guess I\’d like to get married and make a
million dollars this year.” He was the poster boy for my friend Susie\’s
anti Resolution campaign!
Let\’s see
if you can\’t break your list down by creating categories of related
Resolutions. For example, if you give up coffee , alcohol, sugar and
stop smoking, you are automatically going to be healthier and any
exercise program will be easier, won\’t it? We could say these
Resolutions are all under the Banner of ‘Get Healthy.\’
Right
about now you should start to feel more in control. It isn\’t the entire
list you have to tackle on January 1st, it\’s just one category at a
time. And within each category, you need only devote yourself to one or
two challenges at a time. Instead of overwhelming yourself, why not
start slow and build on your success? There\’s a reason babies crawl
before they can walk!
See how this works?
