Resolution Rebellion

It's January 2, 2012.  My first day at work for the new year. My editorial calendar says I should be writing a post entitled "Writing Resolutions," but you know what? I can't stand the thought of writing one more post, email, article, or web page about resolutions and goal setting.

Seriously. The thought is not appealing at all, not because I don't think resolutions and goals are helpful (goals are critical to help you move forward efficiently in the direction you want to go), but I've grown weary of the annual resolution dance. It's a five step dance.  Maybe you know it.

Here's how it goes:

Step 1: I select the resolution.
Step 2: I proclaim it.
Step 3: I start taking action without really thinking it through.
Step 4: I quit.
Step 5: I set the same resolution again...and again...and again.

What's wrong with this picture?

I definitely do better with goals and action plans than resolutions.

Here's the truth:  For the big areas in my life that need change, I know what to do.  I know exactly what to do. I just need to do it.  A decision is the first step, but that's the easiest part.  I need a resolution about the follow-through. I need to beef up Step 3 so I can eliminate Steps 4 and 5 (My apologies to those of you in the 12 step world for hijacking the "step" model, but hmmm....how would beefing up step 3 impact 4 and 5? That is an interesting question, isn't it?).

So, I'm in rebellion today. I'm taking a break from resolutions and the whole dance....for now.

*****************
Read more A Writer's Journey

Real Women Don't Need New Year's Resolutions

Every year is the same. The new year rolls around and I'm faced with the decision about resolutions.  Will I choose a set of resolutions (or even just one) to work on again this year? If I do, I'm setting myself up for that pathetic cycle of failure and guilt that I have spent a lifetime trying to stop. If I don't, I look like someone who's not interested in self-improvement.

As I was pondering this little dilemma (that loomed larger as the new year approached), it occurred to me that self-improvement is a year-round activity.  Establishing goals and action plans to achieve them is an ongoing process, not just something that you do once a year.

Real women (those are women who live in the real world, with crazy schedules, family obligations, and more tasks than time) live in a continuous improvement mode because we simply can't afford not to.  We don't have time to make the same mistakes over and over again (even though we do sometimes). If something is not working for us, we can't afford to wait until January to change things.

When we fail, we try again.  When we fall down, we get up.

You see, failure to achieve a goal within a certain period of time isn't so devastating when it's just a normal part of your life, but when it is elevated to the status of an annual resolution, it becomes a much bigger deal.  Why?  Just chalk it up as one of life's mysteries, like why men won't ask for directions or where the second sock goes to in the dryer.

So I, being a real woman in the truest sense of the term, choose to live my life in a state of continuous improvement, rather than  raising the stakes (and the stress) by making a resolution once a year.

-----------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey.