New Year’s Resolutions Are Ridiculous

A few days ago, my friend Kevin Gianni blogged about how he hates New Year’s Resolutions.
I wouldn’t say I hate them, but January 1st is a date.
And a New Year’s resolution that is marked only by a date is, by its very nature, a finite thing. Any time you are externally motivated to take action primarily by a date, the action you want to take and the results you want to achieve must be short-lived as well.
In other words, January 1 is not a good time to set a goal to “get in shape” or “be financially free” because it’s created without the “resolve” to make it happen (resolve is at the root of resolution), and the plan of action to bring it about.
So, if what you have been doing with your resolutions in the past has worked for you, you can stop reading now. Keep doing what’s working.
But, if the process you’ve been using for setting goals and resolutions for a new year hasn’t been working for you in the past few years, and you want to do some really great things this year, here’s my advice for how to accomplish them, based on things I’ve learned over the past 6 years.
(And just so you know, I’m not getting all preachy here… I’m definitely not. I have been just as guilty of falling into the trap of too many unfulfilled resolutions as anyone. I’m just sharing something which has worked well for me in projects and goals I’ve worked on.)
1. Don’t try to accomplish them, AND
2. Start VERY small.
Start small and pick just one thing that you do every day.
January
Get in shape = walk to the end of the street and back every day
Become financially free = earn (not save) $1 extra every day
Find your dream person = say hi to one stranger every day
Get the idea?

Pick just one thing (instead of doing all of “them”, shooting for some lofty goal), and focus on doing that one thing every day for the next thirty days. Turn it into a habit.
If you’ve been able to turn that thing into a habit, then add one more thing to the original one thing you were doing, or increase the one thing you were doing, so that in
February
Get in shape = walk to the end of the street and back every day twice (or) continue to walk to the end of the street and back once every day, and jog to the end of the street and back every day
Become financially free = earn (not save) $2 extra every day (or) continue to earn (not save) $1 extra every day and read 10 pages from a book to get a financial education (books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad) every day
Find your dream person = say hi to two strangers every day (or) say hi to one stranger every day and start a conversation with one person every day.
It’s a simple plan, one not often advocated in the mainstream of our society
As Kevin blogged, here’s what Mark Twain (one of my favorites) says when he sums it up best on the subject of New Year’s Resolutions.

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.”

Carrie and I are committed to being something different than what Mark Twain describes above, and are glad to be surrounded by such an awesome group of people, committed to doing the same.
Happy 2008 to you, and thanks for being a part of our lives in 2007, a truly incredible year.

Related posts:

1. 1 Year Together!
2. Happy 2 Year Anniversary