New Goals for a New Year

I’m immersed in the post-Christmas chaos lull. I love the holidays, but my psyche needs a little down time recharge and readjust.

It’s a perfect time to think about the future and set my “mini-goals” for 2017.

Aside from the perennial “get more exercise,” “eat better,” and “be nicer to others” entries, here are some things I’m planning to work on:

• Do something I might not normally do at least once a month. I’m not talking skydiving here because that is never going to happen. But I could go out to a comedy club or take a sewing lesson. In order to grow, I need to experience different things.
• Let others live their own lives. I so want people to be successful, that I tend to take responsibility for their failures. Since we need to fail to grow, I need to step back and let others grow from their failures.
• Make the time to read more and write more. I have all sorts of “projects” that get pushed into the corner because life happens. That’s becoming my excuse to avoid things.
• Give myself credit. I have a strong tendency to focus on what I haven’t done and my shortcomings instead of what I’ve accomplished and what I do well. I will set a goal for weekly, reaffirmation time.
• Every day I will find joy in something. It can be something goofy the dog does, spotting a hawk in flight, or sharing a joke with my father.

At the beginning of your new year, I hope you find a snippet of time to set some small goals to help make your life better.

Advertisement

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Resolutions!

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions anymore. I just can’t deal with the pressure.

Of course, I do review old goals and set new ones. At the beginning of 2015, I wanted to spend more time writing up some fiction stories I had living in my head and using my skills to help others.

I did some of that (not as much as I wanted; it’s never enough, really), but life never follows a plan.  It took me many years to realize that, and even more years to get used to the idea that it is really a good thing!

When it comes to setting goals, you may think I cheat a little. It was not too many years ago that I would write on January 1, “I will lose 20 pounds by Memorial Day,” or “I will write a novel by Thanksgiving.”

Oh, I still write my goals down. That’s one of the best ideas I ever tripped across. However, the nature of the goals has changed. They’re more like mini-goals.

Now it’s, “I’ll only eat sweets once or twice a week,” or “I’ll spend an hour a week writing fiction.”

This means I have a much longer list of goals since all these mini-goals eventually add up to major accomplishments. That also means I get to celebrate more successes.

The great thing about setting mini-goals instead of huge resolutions is they are easier to adapt to the curves life is forever throwing at me.

So, ditch the resolutions and opt for written mini-goals. If you do, I foresee many successes for you in 2016.