(photo: tasty sparkling wine we enjoyed on New Year’s Eve)

 Happy New Year!

Every year in December I get excited about reflecting on the year that is ending and making resolutions for the next one. Others shun the practice. Of course, since I am into it, I am curious on why some people do not see the value in the practice.  Here are some of the arguments I found against setting New Year’s Resolutions and my counterargument for each:

You can set a goal  any time of year, you shouldn’t have to wait until January 1st. Agreed, set a goal whenever you want to….but sometimes everyday life gets in the way and you find yourself in December thinking, “Damn, I can’t believe another whole year has passed and I still haven’t learned to play the guitar”.   End of December/beginning of January is a great time to re-evaluate things and right the ship so to speak.  This needs to be done periodically, so why not now?   Otherwise re-evaluation might be just another task that gets procrastinated.

January might not be a good month for some particular goals. Eh…weak argument in my opinion.  Sure, maybe January is not the optimal month to look for a new job, move or sell your house.  No one said you had to achieve the goal in January, just start it in January and work on achieving it throughout the year. There is plenty of prep work that goes into looking for a new job, for example, that can be started immediately. 

• rank the most important things you want to get out of a prospective employer
• determine how far you are willing to commute
• research companies that do the work you are interested in
• research the financial viability of the company you think you want to work for
• perfect that resume!

If you set a goal and fail to achieve it, the psychological affect of the failure out weighs the benefit of setting a goal. I think this one comes down to the goal itself and how you define “failure”.  First, when setting goals, you have to make sure they are achievable…otherwise, it is really a pipe dream, not a goal.  For many folks the standard New Year’s goal is weight loss and getting healthy.  Is this achievable? Yes, but we each have our own set of limitations that need to be taken into account like specific “powerhouse” foods that might clash with your medication or a pre-existing back issue that prevents you from doing dead lifts at the gym.  Also, you can’t go from 0 to 100 in one week.  Incrementally build on your fitness/health goals and don’t necessarily focus on the results, especially in the beginning.  I have met people who don’t run at all, who have told me that think they would be able to run 10 miles right out of the gate.  They feel they wouldn’t need training because they were an athlete 10-15 years ago in high school or college. That’s not realistic. I am not a doctor or a trainer but you can see where I am going with this. Start with the small things like not drinking soda and walking and then build up to doing a 5k.

For myself, I set a number of resolutions this year in various categories like relationships, health, work and travel.  One thing I did this year that I had not in previous years is write them down. I am not really a written list person…I tend to keep mental lists.  However, the mental list has failed me many times, so I am trying something new, hoping it will keep me more focused.

Cheers!