I can look at my 2012 resolutions in 2 ways. 1) Failure or 2) a road map that presented its share of twists and turns, which ultimately led to overall improvement (in thinking, creativity, effectiveness, focus).
I’ll take #2. See what I did there? š In all introspective and non-denial honesty, I learned a lot in 2012.
There IS a growing movement of not setting hard-fast goals. For example it might be better for your goal to be “to eat healthy” rather than “to lost 20 pounds.” While I do see the value in that thinking, I still think there should be a target to aim for. Sort of like the old quote, “Aim for perfection, settle for excellence.” But there are very valid points to that thinking and I think it’s kinda sorta where I ended up in 2012.
I definitely made headway in a lot of the areas I focused on in 2012. But as I mentioned early on, the pursuits led to learnings that then compelled me to change course. At the minimum, the careful thought and creation of my 2012 resolutions jump-started a more effective and ever evolving personal development path.
I think overall (and recently) I learned not to try to be such a perfectionist. Rather I should just go for things and not fear failing or getting things wrong at first. This is where I’ll start for 2013.
I hope to carry the non-perfectionist notion into 2013 from day one. Instead of trying to read x number of books or blog posts on y skill before trying it first, I’m going to try first, and rely on books and reference material only when needed. JUST SHIP BABY!
I’ve become a fan of Tim Ferriss. Not to digress, but I AM going to follow my “no book rule” and NOT read his 4 Hour Workweek and 4 Hour Body! Instead I’m going to rely on the gist I attain from other sources of learning (for these books and many others), like shorter blog posts or YouTube interviews and presentations. His latest, 4 Hour Chef, was too interesting to resist though–there is a lot of entertainment value (see how I’m justifying the purchase and time investment?). Where was I going with this… His philosophy is to basically apply the 80/20 rule to time and energy when taking on projects/endeavors/etc. Look for the 20% effort that will yield 80% results. I have already started focusing on this. Other than more obvious time/attention wasters like Twitter, Facebook, etc, there are others that creep into the mix that on the surface look like productive activities, but their ROI (time/attention/etc) is very low. I really catch myself at times being “productive” only to evaluate time I wasted on very low-value/yielding tasks.
Speaking of 4 Hour Chef… And goals in general. One of my 2012 “failures” was to create a weekly meal plan and stick to it. It was clear early on that the task was a bit overwhelming. Mostly on the shopping front, not the actual cooking front. Just the thought of the monumental task (for me) was enough to feed procrastination and avoidance. I’ve decided to take Ferriss’s advice and start with only 2 meals per week to start. That’s it. And that’s “resolution” #1. Cook 2 healthy meals a week. Hopefully there will be enough leftovers!
I did join toastmasters and I did give one speech. So I did dip my toes into that 2012 resolution water. A really bad string of scheduling conflicts, then the birth of baby boy #2 got in the way of attending more. Simply, “resolution” #2 is to give more public speeches in 2013.
I will open up an IRA this time. I sort of procrastinated the research on it. I finally understand what I can do and what to do. And I have enough for the minimum required. This is an example of feeling the need to know way too much before taking action. I should have just gone on a lunch hour to Fidelity, instead of feeling to urge to do hours of independent research on IRAs. “Resolution” #3 is to finally open an IRA.
I have a long list of outstanding things to do around the house. Nothing major, just little fixes here and there. I had the ambitious goal of finishing one thing a week in 2012. Sure enough new stuff got in the way of old stuff. And a lot remains on the list. I think the mental stress of falling behind led to the ultimate doom of this resolution. This is kind of what Bregman alludes to. “Resolution” #4 is to chip away at the list.
Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, who talks, advises, etc. about goals, changing habits, etc. says you will likely fail if you take on too much at once. Better yet, you should really only take on one change at a time. Therefore I’m going to make “resolution” #5 a series of x day challenges. I’ve done 30 day challenges before with varying success. I’m going to spend a little while thinking about dialing the days back a little (maybe 10-15) and firing away at things I want to learn, try, accomplish etc. And perhaps there will be breaks in between. Some for fun. Some development areas. Some are are already in a quasi state of progress now, but desperately need more focus to create a permanent habit. I don’t think the first 4 lend themselves to this… Therefore “resolution” #5 is to do x (tbd # of days) challenges for the following: meditation, exercise, hydration (yes really), sleep (bedtime and wake-up schedule), nutrition/healthy eating, reduce caffeine consumption, do more brain/memory training, and others as I think them up, like x days of eating with only chopsticks or something fun like that. As I mentioned, some of these are in a varying states of habit, but they tend to slip. More dedication and focus one at a time might be in need.
There are a few other things on the periphery, which will remain on a soft kind of “radar screen” if you will. They are to get more quality input and inspiration (e.g. going to museums, watching more educational documentaries, etc.), learn to speed read, and to toy around with “outsourcing” mundane tasks. The outsourcing will have to require that time gained put to the utmost good use. For example, if we hire a housekeeper to tidy up, the time not wasted tidying up will be spend on real valuable areas, like getting more important stuff done, doing volunteer work, doing paid freelance work, etc. NOT watching more reality TV (not that we do anyway). We’ve already ordered groceries from PeaPod, and I’ve already put things on Amazon’s “subscribe and save” autoship.
Lets see how 2013 goes!