Jan 01 2012

Happy New Years Resolutions – Part One

I don’t think New Year’s resolutions can’t technically be expected to begin on New Year’s Day, don’t you?  Since, because it’s an extension of New Year’s Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system.  Also dieting on New Year’s Day isn’t a good idea as you can’t eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover.  I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second.

 

Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones Diary

 

Last year my resolution was to keep a blog of What I Learnt Each Day.

WILT had 350 posts in 2012!

Thanks for your comments and support.

What is your resolution for 2012?

Lifehacker has these “Top Ten Easy to Keep Recommendations“

• 10. Create and Stick to a Realistic Budget
• 9. Get a Better Education
• 8. Make New Friends
• 7. Keep Your Home Cleaner
• 6. Start Working Out
• 5. Learn a New Skill
• 4. Get That Promotion (or New Job)
• 3. Reboot Your Sleep Cycle
• 2.Eat Healthier
• 1.Back Up Your Data

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

However, there are plenty of tips on how to achieve each of these recommendations on the LifeHacker site.

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man.”

Benjamin Franklin

Is there a difference between a goal and a resolution?

Blogger Gretchin Rubin spent a year “test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Plutarch, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, St. Thérèse, the Dalai Lama, Oprah, Martin Seligman…I cover it all.”. As part of ‘The Happiness Project” she started a daily blog.

She makes this distinction.

“You hit a goal, you achieve a goal. You keep a resolution.

I think that some objectives are better characterized as resolutions, others, as goals.

“Run in a marathon” or “Become fluent in Spanish” is a good goal. It’s specific. It’s easy to tell when it has been achieved. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it!

“Eat more vegetables” or “Stop gossiping,” or “Exercise” is better cast as a resolution. You won’t wake up one morning and find that you’ve achieved it. It’s something that you have to resolve to do, every day, forever. You’ll never be done with it.

But it can be easy to get discouraged when you’re trying to hit a goal. What if it takes longer than you expected? What if it’s harder than you expected? And what happens once you’ve reached your goal? Say you’ve run the marathon. What now – do you stop exercising? Do you set a new goal?

With resolutions, the expectations are different. Each day, I try to live up to my resolutions. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but every day is a clean slate and a fresh opportunity. I never expect to be done with my resolutions, so I don’t get discouraged when they stay challenging. Which they do.”

Good luck with your resolutions in 2012.