The new year is approaching, for some it's just an arbritrary thing, for others a new possibility.
Some of the resolutions I had in the past worked out great (blogging, training), but some didn't (learning Spanish, writing a second book)
How do you handle new years resolutions?
Top comments (25)
I don't. I find out that, if it was REALLY something that I wanted to do, making a promise at new year's doesn't matter.
In my mind, there are no reasons to not start working on yourself if it's early December, or November or June...
For example, I want to write more consistently. Why would I wait for January to start? If it is really an important goal to me, I could start right away. Waiting for weeks or months because it's a new year is just an excuse to not getting started and I found out that every resolution I made at that time never lasted...
I agree, I know a lot of people who become complacent in New Year's resolutions and end up becoming disappointed and never finish their resolution.
I think it has to do with the lack of urgency having a whole year to do something creates.
Hehe, I had the impression the urgency was the biggest at 1.1. :D
Yes, you're right and I do this all the time additionally to my new year's resolutions :)
Short answer: no.
Long answer: no I don't.
Why not? :D
Honestly there really isn't any reason for it. I just simply don't do it
I like making new years resolutions. I view it as an opportunity to reflect on what direction I want to take my life, rather than always chasing the "next" thing. (In "Getting Things Done" terms, this is Horizon-3 thinking.) I also enjoy using it as a conversation-starter.
And, my favorite part, I keep all my resolutions year-to-year in a dedicated notebook, which allows me to look back at how my priorities have changed through the years.
Haha, so new year's resolutions are serious business for you?
I wouldn't go that far. I find them to be helpful and enjoyable.
I don't set "New Years" resolutions. I do set goals and focus on them every day of the year and have a good success rate at hitting them. I find January 1st to be an arbitrary and pointless point in time to have a goal or ambition. I set goals whenever I accomplish goals or have something I need to accomplish.
I think people are obsessed with a "clean slate" that the new year brings, and as soon as the novelty wears off so does their ambition to change. If you really want to change or improve you should just do it and to hell with novelty or clean slates.
I tend to hold a belief along the lines of Charles Bukowski. If you have to try to try, then don't even try. If it's part of you and a must, then do it and go all the way.
I normally don't, and it's because I'm never really looking forward to a new year. The difference between two years is a day, so I normally capitalize on making small accomplishments in days that will lead up to a great accomplishment by the end of the year. I'm a very incrementally progressive person.
Yes, guess everyone has their own way for change :)
I'm one of those "just a date on the wall" kind of people.
Even as a child, New Year's resolutions never made sense to me. So, as soon I was able to adequately articulate how pointless/arbitrary the whole thing seemed, the sooner people stopped bugging me about it. That was probably around age 8?
Probably didn't help that most of the resolutions I observed others set had shelf-lives shorter than warm milk.
I am really bad at checking in on my goals after a few weeks and find them silly, but I do make them.
And actually, they I truly believe that a resolution I set to thoroughly read at least one technical article per day (I tend to skim and not actually read if I don't really set my mind to it) set me on a path towards where I am today (creating DEV, etc.). That explicit goal is how I started getting more involved in reading and writing in general.
Same here, lol.
Then I still try to follow through and feel awkward until I finally quit 🙃
I do this too.
Sometimes the way is, I get an idea and want to realize it as soon as possible, this has nothing to do with the time of the year.
Sometimes I sit down, like at the end of a year, and re-evaluate what I did and get ideas by doing so, this is what forms the resolutions later.
I do like the fact that these "New Year's Resolutions" help me think about what to do next.
But I don't make'em because no need to wait upon deciding to do something.
Yes, I think if it's August and you got an idea it's pretty dumb to wait for January to start.
That's true.
At least "New Year's Resolutions" a good nudge, which doesn't happen in other months 🙂.
Yes. That's what I think too.
Some ideas come while doing my everyday life and other ideas come when I specifically think about what could be better.
This year I basically learnt a lot but also comitted more mistakes than i could imagine and a swift change in my life and the way i make decisions is greatly required even if i follow it for a few weeks in the name of a resolution. So I would mostly be in a hyper self conscious mode at first always thinking of the promise and bit by bit, day by day, it will loose momentum and finally that promise wont matter anymore
I have observed when pressure is put on me (including by myself), it actually has an inverse effect on my motivation to do it. So that makes New Year's resolutions counter-productive. Also to-do lists. Having goals. etc.
I find I learn things and make changes when the need presents itself. Which ends up being pretty often anyway.
Yes, I fall back to my old habit too.
Sometimes after a week sometimes after a year, when I had the feeling it has already become normal.