Resolutions? Um, NO. But If Not Now, When?

I’ve always been more of a doer than a planner.  That’s why things like day planners, New Year resolutions, and wowzie life plans never worked for me.  Besides, as they say, life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans.

Okay, I do plan.  It’s just not what the guru’s of planning would use for a good example   My planning is about seeing where I want to go and going for it.  But while I have some weird intuitive knack for just knowing what needs to be done to achieve the results I want, I realize that a lot of people are not that way.  I think that’s why so many people like the idea of resolutions.

Then again, there’s the reality of how many of those resolutions ever get accomplished.  According to Forbes, a whopping 92% are not achieved.  Maybe it’s me, but that seems like a worrisome number.  And makes me pretty sure there must be a better way.

Resolutions?  No, Let’s Not

As I see it, these are the basic problems with resolutions:

• They’re treated like decrees, with no allowance for need to adjust.  Pass or fail.
• They’re attached to one day of the year, January 1, which make is easy to let a lot of time get wasted waiting for the NEXT time you’re going to make some.
• And, too often they are unfocused.  No matter how you do it, you need to have BOTH a destination (goal) and a road map (plan) to get there.

At some point all of us reach a point in life when we realize that this funny thing called time isn’t waiting for us.  While it’s important to savor parts of our journey, it’s also important to have a sense of urgency about whatever it is we’re passionate about.  So if you only make “resolutions” every January 1, you have a pretty limited number of chances to make course adjustments.  Yes, there most definitely must  be a better way.

Action and Accountability

I’ve been self-employed for the better part of my adult life.  So maybe that contributed to the way I do goals.  I’ve always had to be accountable to myself.  At the end of the day, or week, or month, I’ve always looked back at what I accomplished.  If I got all the “A” items off my list and maybe some of B’s and C’s, it was good. If progress towards my goal could be clearly seen, I could sleep well.

I’ve never seen a plan that came really close to the way I’ve naturally done life.   And I’m not about to try to write a book about exactly how I do it.  That one would never even have made it to my list of resolutions even if one existed!  But I recently came across a pretty awesome tool.

Conquer Your Year

While it’s called “The Ultimate Planner,” it is quite different than any I’ve seen.  With sections that include self-evaluation of gratitude, physical well-being, and both attitude and measurement of progress towards goals, it’s more like a daily journal of your life and your path to what you’ve laid out for achieving.  It’s a  living life plan, in many respects.  The creator, Natalie MacNeil, has put together something that is not only unusual in format, but, I think, very effective.  I’m going to use it myself in the months ahead to track some new personal goals.

I’d recommend you take a look.  But no matter what method you choose to plan and track the road to your goals, there’s one thing for sure.  The future doesn’t care what your world looks like when you arrive there.   It’s up to you to create it, starting now.  Resolutions aren’t for once a year, they’re declarations to be made as frequently as necessary to make your life look exactly the way you want it.  The time is now, and now is every day.

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Main.  Resolutions.