HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Just a few comments about what to expect in 2021: another 3-6 months of chaos followed by a rapidly recovering economy assuming we all get vaccinated. During the continuing chaotic period, we all have to wear our masks, distance from others don’t gather in large groups. Be careful and we will get through this, but January will be tough. We are resilient!
Resolutions, Goals, and Intentions
It is the time when we review how last year went (Chaos Prevailed) and decide where we are going during the New Year (2021). Whether you identify your targets with New Year’s Resolutions, Goals, Intentions, or some other means, 2021 will be the year of declining chaos leading into a new reality. Recognizing this, my Phrase for the year is “Embracing the New”. We are going to have to learn alternative ways of working. Think in new time frames. There will be new requirements for travel and vacations. The leisure industry will require fresh ways of thinking. So how do we make New Year’s Resolutions, set goals, or identify our Intentions in this environment?
New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions are notoriously prone to failure (80%) in the most stable of times. We sign up for gym memberships and within 2 months we quit going. New Year’s Resolutions require a stable time, willpower, and the commitment to building habits that most of us don’t have. In 2021I almost guarantee these resolutions will fail. It is more likely than ever because the chaos that we have been living through is going to increase and continue for at least the next three months. Here are a few to try if you make resolutions.
Read more books and watch less TV.
Cook one new thing each week.
Learn to meditate.
Goals
Goals aren’t much better (90% fail.) If you make Goals, make S.M.A.R.T. Goals. These goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Goals contain an implicit assumption that you have control and the ability to achieve the goals. For most of us, especially me, I hate goals because they imply failure on my part when I don’t meet them. I. can’t tell you how many hundreds or thousands of goals I have written at the beginning of the year I didn’t meet. So, as you can guess, I am not a big fan of the making of goals, especially in these chaotic times. But if you are into goals, here are a couple of examples.
Get vaccinated by the end of March.
Improve my walking to three miles, twice a week, by the end of March.
Intentions
My choice is identifying intentions or areas that I want to focus on. Right now, my intentions are monthly. My intentions for January- March are below. What makes them more exciting than goals or resolutions for me are that 1. they have a shorter time frame, 2. I know when I set them they are achievable, and 3. they are easy to take action on with focus. Here are mine for the first three months when we will still live in a chaotic environment.
January
write 2 blog posts and 1 or 2 Medium posts per week
gather financial data for my accountant
schedule 2 end-of-year reviews with clients
Continue working on Roam Knowledge
February
write 2 blog posts and 1 or 2 Medium posts per week
gather financial data for my accountant
work on Notion Knowledge
Schedule 2 end-of-year reviews with clients
March
write 2 blog posts and 1 or 2 Medium posts per week
gather financial data for my accountant and send to him
work on Notion Knowledge
Schedule 2 end-of-year reviews with clients
These are only some items I will work on, but as I do my monthly review, I will update my intentions for the next month. Will I get all these done, probably not? But I have a better chance of positive reinforcement than I had with goals which were usually longer and offered more chances for life to intervene and mess them up.
Choose one method that makes the most sense to you or you will be like Alice in Wonderland when she asked the Cheshire cat which way to go.
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”- Lewis Caroll.
