Keeping Resolutions

I’ve had my share to say in regards to New Year’s Resolutions. I find that more often than not they are trite and seldom effective. However, I also understand that making and obtaining goals is not just an obsession of productivity junkies, but the core and fundamental principal to progression in life. In that vein I will examine what keeps us from following through with our resolutions and how we can fix it.

Each individual can naturally expect to have unique and personal reasons for failing to keep their resolutions. Still, there are common threads, which, if understood and addressed, would make all the difference and keep our goals from unraveling shortly into the new year.

Unraveling Baseball

Clear Vision

Where there is no clear vision of a desired result it becomes impossible to exercise the willpower and determination essential to achieve. A lens out of focus does not lend itself to capturing a subject. Half the battle is to clearly define your goal. Do not focus on immeasurable vagaries like, “becoming happy.” Instead, focus on what you want to do or accomplish. Make the end result measurable not just by you, but also by even a child. The process will be confusing and difficult enough, so start on the right foot.

Simplicity

My profound overuse of commas is a likely indicator that, like a vast number of writers, I have a propensity to overcomplicate.  I am also guessing that anyone reading this most likely discovered my post via some social networking site, and thus, shares my predisposition.

The one nugget of advice I can offer is to set goals that you know you can handle, but which (for some reason) you haven’t yet accomplished. Nobody’s ever going to sponsor your expedition to the top of Everest with all that credit card debt. Simplicity in goal setting makes success a greater reality, and thus fuels your ability to tackle the bigger challenges.

Avoiding Burnout

It can be insurmountably depressing to toil in vain. Yet all too often our approach keeps us confined like hamsters in a wheel: working and getting nowhere. In order to avoid this you must first eliminate anything that is not under your control. Focus on what you can actually influence. Instead of making a goal to be healthy, which could be adversely effected by any number of outside forces, it would make more sense to concentrate on calorie intake, which you have direct control over.

In addition, give yourself the whole year to achieve the goal. If your objective is to get to a target weight, then break that resolution down into meta goals until you get to the point of daily tasks. Daily habits will affect the year’s outcome more than token spurts.

Accountability

Quite often I lull myself into vapid security because I’m the only one aware that I failed. We instinctively care what others think and often this is a powerful motivation. However, the true value of accountability is that an outside observer who is aware of our goal can offer invaluable insight and encouragement. It’s the same old “two heads are better than one” principle.  Find a respected friend, preferably one also looking for help with their goals so that at least one of you will follow through.

Physical Reminders

Among certain Jews a special article of clothing is worn called Phylacteries. Boxes kept in place by leather cords are hardly a modern norm. The source of this tradition is the following passage of the bible:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
(Deuteronomy 6:7-9)

The phylacteries are an outward, physical reminder of an inward spiritual dedication. Chances that you’ll see somebody wearing them at the state pork festival would be slim. The physical reminder enforces a previous choice.

Jews in traditional clothing

Far from suggesting an alteration of clothing or intense accessorizing, I recommend placing reminders in the places you most often find yourself. It could be the bathroom mirror, your desktop, your door, or your cell phone; whatever works. Since thoughts are the seeds of action, a perpetual reminder is an easy and effective device.

This is no productivity sham-wow!

There is no  one program or method that is correct. Remember that the object of this reflection has been to cover the commonalities in my failed attempts. Fix-all systems are empty promises. That is why I’d like to hear what works for you. Let’s discuss what your goals for the upcoming year are and how you plan to realize them. I will do the same.