Monday, February 4, 2013

New Year, New Rules: New Year's Resolutions, 2013 Edition


So, I’m a sucker for New Year’s Resolutions. As an academic, I usually make them twice a year—on January 1st, like “normal” people, and again on September 1st, with the beginning of the new academic year. The resolutions I make at the start of September often have to do with my academic achievements and work ethic; while these figure in my January resolutions, I try to add the “life improvements” resolutions to this list as well.

As usual, my list is ambitious, unrealistic and unoriginal: manage my time more effectively; be more courteous to others, especially as a listener; don’t let the little things upset me; eat more healthily; work out more consistently; be a more enthusiastic and engaged instructor; stop procrastinating; get back to writing fiction; read more books for fun. (Naturally I’m most excited by the last one on that list.)

But I can’t help myself. I like to reinvent and improve myself, even when I know that these goals are a constant struggle to maintain. But I also love making lists. I make to-do lists, grocery lists, book lists, move lists, lists of achievements, lists of failures, pro and con lists, and, as you are witnessing in this essay, lists of lists. I have a notepad for making lists and at the bottom it says, “Make a list—you’ll feel better.” If nothing else, making lists makes you feel in control, even if that’s a false sense of satisfaction.

I am also very meticulous about my lists. I joke that lists are where the Virgo in me really comes out. Not only do I like to make lots of lists, I organize my lists with categories and subcategories. I like to make my grocery lists in order of how the food is laid out in the grocery store that we go to every week. What—you don’t do that? For Christmas shopping this year, I created an Excel spreadsheet to make sure I had all the recipients and their gifts listed. I have no doubt this list will prove invaluable in ten months’ time.

But back to resolutions! Resolutions are a neat and orderly list of things I wish to achieve, however esoteric, abstract or concrete. The key to effective goal-setting is, of course, to make a second list that describes what you will do in your life to achieve these goals (I think I read that in a book or Good Housekeeping, which mysteriously keeps being sent to my house). For example, for my resolution of working out more consistently, I will promise myself to work out 4-5 times a week minimum, with roller derby twice a week, gym twice a week, and, once the weather gets nicer, running twice a week. In order to get fitter, I plan on using a fitness journal to mark my progress and make sure I’m upping the weight on the machines every month.

The problem with this method is once you get to the more abstract resolutions. For example—how do I break my bad habit of interrupting people and, in general, being a bad listener? How do I “manage my time better” (aside from making more lists)? How do I commit to “not letting the little things get to me” or “being a more enthusiastic instructor”? The only way to do that is to remind myself as often as possible about these things. My original idea was to write myself reminders of these goals in my day planner and on a sheet of paper by my bed—but then I put that off.

I suppose in the end it doesn’t matter if you break your resolutions, as long as you don’t break your resolve. I’m not a fan of self-help books, so I’ll leave the pep talk for someone else. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll keep making and re-making myself as often as I can—that’s one resolution I know I’ll keep. And when that fails, I’ll make a list…and I’ll feel better.

[Try not to notice that I already broke resolution #37, post to blog every week….] 

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