New Years Resolutions vs. Goals
Happy New Year! Now that we’re a few days into 2009, the activity of the holiday season has settled down and it’s time for life to get back to normal (whatever that is LOL). This gives me the opportunity to take some time to reflect on the past and make plans for the future, as is common practice with many folks.
Often times, we make RESOLUTIONS for the upcoming year. Things like ”I will lose weight” or “I will not eat chocolate” or ”I will not spend more than $xxx on BLANK each month,” etc. are spewed forth by optimistic folks who set high hopes for self improvement. That’s right – self improvement. What is a resolution other than a statement dedciated to self improvement? Well, if you look it up in the dictionery, you’ll find that a resolution is the result of the verb “resolve.” So you loom up the meaning of ”resolve” and find the following listed as the word’s fifth meaning (from www.m-w.com):
5: to reach a firm decision about <resolve to get more sleep> <resolve disputed points in a text>
Hmm. That’s pretty weak if you ask me – not to mention the fact that it’s so far down on the list of definitions for that particular word. So maybe I shouldn’t make resolutions. Maybe “GOALS” would be better. Let’s look that one up:
2: the end toward which effort is directed
Now that’s more like it. It seems a lot more concrete to me than the wishy washy “resolution.” So I’m making goals from now on, instead of resolutions. As part of our annual evaluations at work, we set goals, and we’re directed to make them results oriented, realistic, and if possible, measurable.
Upon reflection, and some discussion with others, I’ve decided on one main goal which ultimately can house many mini goals. It’s a goal that may sound nearly impossible at first, but by breaking it down a bit and defining it, it’s not unsurmountable. And it’s one I can actually use over and over each year if I want. So here it is:
My goal for 2009 is to have the best year I’ve ever had.
More on how I’m going to achieve this in my next post!