Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, "By failing to prepare, we are preparing to fail." In all truth, at this time of year, we heartily set goals for ourselves that we, with the greatest intent, breating in the first fumes of a freshly birthed new year, hope to accomplish. Lose weight! Stop smoking! Exercise! Save money! And yet what people have found is that as these goals are spouted, usually in a somewhat marinated stated, is that by the end of January 31 most have been given up on. Siting reasons like, "It's winter...you have to eat hearty in the winter and it is too cold to exercise." or "I am too poor after Christmas to save money." And on it goes...we justify the reasons we cannot do that which we want to do, but cannot bring ourselves to do.
The question is, why? Why do we fail? Worse yet...why does it lead us into a tailspin of resolving never to make resolutions again?
I have thought about this for a long time...I believe that the answer lies in the inner workings our gray matter. We do not think things through long before, nor do we plan things out. We do not believe we can fail, and worse yet, we do not forgive ourselves if we do, walking away from that which we desire because it was hard...it was actually going to require something of us...a struggle.
Thus this year, I have not only made resolutions, but I have made them with the idea that, they will be hard. That I will not only stumble, fall...but I will have to find something inside myself to pick myself back up and start over again.
I have made plans, I have made goals. I have the idea that with small baby steps to start, reviewed each month, and then possibly tracked to the next step, I may, indeed be successful. Yogi Berra, the great prophet, once said, "You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." We fail to reach our goals because of lack of aim. If you have no direct aim, no bullseye, you will never reach your goal.
So here are my goals for the year of 2011:
1. Lose weight
2. Find a better job
3. Travel
4. Move with little or no drama
5. Fight less/stress less
6. Be more positive
And here are the actions I plan to take for each of those goals...for January 2011:
1. Lose 10 pounds. Begin walking 3 times a week.
2. Commit to spending 5 hours a week looking for a better job.
3. Save $25 a week from paycheck toward a trip.
4. Begin packing boxes now, purging items not needed or wanted now.
5. Choose my battles, do not give into fights with the kids.
6. List 4 things every day that are positive....things that you can be happy about.
At the end of January, I plan to revist the list and hopefully, I can say that I am moving forward. It is my plan to see each of these things become successfully integrate into my life. It is not my plan to become the Dali Lama, a supermodel, Heloise, and the CEO of Intel in a year. The Bible tells us that without a vision the people perish. This is my vision of 2011.
My goals are this: on December 31, 2011, I would like to be able to look back at the year and say that, I have accomplished my goals. I would like to weigh less than I do at this very moment. I would like to be in a job I do not abhore from my waking moments. I would like to be settled into another house with fewer things, more organized and not divorced over the situation. I would like to go somewhere on a vacation...anywhere would be fine. I would also like my relationship with those that matter most in my life to have improved. If, at the end of this year, I can say that those things are done...then I will be able to say that I have accomplished my 2011 New Years Resolutions.
And that, in itself, will be an amazing feat.
