not so resolute

i'm not big on new year's resolutions. i really believe that you should be what you want to be all the time and not need the coming of a new year, which really is just the next day in the continuum of time, to make change. new year's resolutions just aren't for me.

i am however a big fan of lists. back in january 2004, the 7th specifically, i made a big list. it's called 101 things to do in 1001 days. if you're a math whiz you might know that the 1001st day passed recently. not that i noticed on the day of. but still, it happened. 1000 and 1 days passed and i accomplished nowhere near the 101 things on my list. in fact, i accomplished 41.5 of them.

now that i've done this once, i know how to make a better list. i need to be more specific in my tasks. so i've made a new 101 things to do in 1001 days. the first day was december 26 and i'm not even done making my list yet. it's not easy coming up with 101 things, believe me.

my first list didn't have some pretty big things i DID accomplish on it, like buying a house. i obviously wasn't thinking about a house all that much back then. it's about thinking long-ish term, 1001 days in the future specifically. that's not an easy thing to do, though i think it gets a little easier the more stable your life becomes. back in january 2004, i was still in school, engaged, and had a temp house. now i'm married, have a permanent job and my own house. my life is obviously different and so too are my "things to do".

my challenge to you is this: make a new year's resolution to NOT make any resolutions. make small changes that better your life that you can live with and sustain. small things really make a difference. and try something more long term, like the 101 things to do in 1001 days and report back at the end of it. you might find out something about yourself. i would rather learn what i really want to do instead of learning to make resolutions and then break them. look at any gym in january and look at the same gym a couple of months from now. the gyms are laughing.

be the change you want to see in the world.