Be a Go-Getter. Make Your 2018 Resolutions Now
My #1 principle is if you need a new calendar year to focus yourself on what matters most, you will seldom be focused on what matters most.
For this reason, I suggest a simple device that will help you avoid the sort of nonsensical resolutions that clutter some people's minds for the first few weeks of January: make resolutions for the year after next year.
Doing this will separate your possibilities into two clear piles:
Really unimportant: This pile is for anything you aren't yet doing, don't plan to do in 2017, but resolve to do in 2018. If it can wait a year, it's not important.
Truly important: These are things you did in 2016, will do in 2017, and will still be doing in 2018. This is what matters most. For five years running, I've been using the same personal credo to focus my attention:
Be generous and expert, trustworthy and clear, open-minded and adaptable, persistent and present.
So, yes, this is my resolution for 2018. It is also my resolution for 2017. It was my resolution for 2016, 2015, and 2014.
When you get to the point where your resolutions are the same year after year, you have moved past trivial resolutions and entered the space in which you live by a simple set of principles that make you proud.
For example, instead of resolving to "lose ten pounds", try resolving to be clear in your intentions. This will lead you to exercise more and eat less, even when that piece of chocolate cake looks unbelievably moist and tasty.
By looking at two years at one time, it becomes more obvious which resolutions you can actually follow, and which are little more than empty words.
Does this mean you are no longer growing?
I treasure the growth mindset, so want to be careful here not to imply that keeping the same resolution year after year means you get set in your ways and never change.
To the contrary, I'd suggest you adopt resolutions that push to you constantly be learning, striving, and adapting. Notice how my credo includes "be open-minded and adaptable"? Plus, to be an "expert", you have to learn and advance, year after year.
Hmm... "never stop growing" might make a great resolution.
So when someone asks about your resolution for 2017, tell them, "It's the same as for 2018, and 2019, and 2020."
Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs, executives, and social innovators. He is the author of NEVER TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU DO.
Technical Sales and Marketing
8 年Never stop growing....I wrote a personal mission statement in 1992 that I still judge major decisions against. Must have been a good mission statement if a, I still remember it, and b, it is still valid. Those are the things that work in a lifetime. I like this article a lot. I tried the word of the year for two year. I liked it, but it didn't stick. I think I will try to make sure that more of my life is held to the 1992 mission statement... Have a great 2018.
“Don't just fly, soar."
8 年People can have a long-term life plan only if they know their private property is secure. Davmarkid m David Coffill Mark Nguyen Jeffrey Chen
Small Schools Champion (Consultant, Coach, Speaker, Author)
8 年Well said!
Jack of All Trades, Master of None
8 年Whew, thought I missed a year... :)