Thoughts on the new year

As I peruse a few of my favorite blogs this week I see a recurring theme of people who are against making New Year's resolution.  Instead, they say they like to set goals, write down their aspirations, and track their progress towards these.  Um... isn't that basically the same thing?!?!  A resolution IS a goal or a written aspiration.

I think the issue is with follow through and accountability.  New Year's resolutions have the reputation of being somewhat unrealistic and quickly discarded, while goals and written aspirations sound more reputable. 

Regardless of what you call it, any desire to change a behavior or do something you're not currently doing requires being specific, being accountable, and being able to measure.  I've written about this a number of times. Click here or click on the 'resolutions' tag on the bottom of this post.

Personally I'm a fan of New Year's resolutions (or goals or written aspirations) because they are intentional steps toward betterment.  Losing 20 lbs, learning a foreign language, exercising 3 times a week - whatever - you are telling yourself that you're not satisfied with the status quo, and that you know you have the ability to change.  Its empowering!

But its often not easy.  Quitting smoking, eating healthy, reading 12 books in 12 months, can be painful in the beginning, but as with nearly everything, the more you do it the easier it becomes.

One of my resolutions is to go to the movies at least once per quarter.  Hopefully it will be even more frequent, but I think once per quarter is realistic and attainable.  Sometimes the films available to us don't interest me, and especially in the summer we busy, so I'm setting my goal/resolution at a realistic level, with the knowledge I can exceed if it I want/can.  

The reasons we don't go to the movies very often: 

• a film only interests 1 of us
• Spouse thinks it'll be too crowded and suggests we go later when its not as crowded
• a film we both want to see leaves before we get to see it
• Spouse questions if the movie will be 'worth' spending the money to see
• we think the movie be on HBO in a few months
• we're busy (mostly in the summer)

So for 2017 I am setting my intention to overcome the obstacles above and see at least 1 movie per quarter.  Some of my other resolutions are to increase my business/sales by a specific amount, lose at least 20 lbs, and practice at least 1 random act of kindness each month.

What are your resolutions, goals, or written aspirations?