A resolution party for one
(because the word “party” makes it sound more fun!)
Happy New Year!
Now, I realise I may be a little late to the party. But, I wanted to share my experience to resolve to resolute more attainably in 2018.
Ahhh, new year’s resolutions. The tradition we love to hate. Yet, as the scenery shifts from one year to the next, many of us habitually succumb to the temptation to reinvent ourselves and/or our habits via ambitious goal-setting.
I am one of those people.
In 2017, I resolved to ‘read more’. That was until it dawned on me that I’d never actually recorded the number of books I read (in a year) and, as a result, would never know if I had read more than the previous year. Enter, Year 33: A Reading List.
The good news, 2017 was the year I upgraded my new year’s resolution to a SMART goal (yay me!). The not-so-good news, I only read 15 books (well, technically 15.5 — I’m STILL half-way through Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote’ and, at 982 pages, I forgive myself for the tardiness!).
However, at the end of the day, 15 books is not 33. Does this mean I failed?
I’ll admit, when I first updated the #Year33ReadingList post on Dec 31st I was a little disappointed. I’m ambitious by nature and didn’t want to face the reality that I hadn’t met (or exceeded!) my goal. For the record, I did loads of other reading (largely professional) throughout 2017 that I didn’t record on this list, as it was purely about reading more for pleasure. I know, I know, *cough*cough* excuses?!?! *cough*.
But then, overcome by the party spirit of New Year’s Eve, I decided this was no moment to rest on my laurels, it was a moment to celebrate! Sure, I may not have reached my target number of books, but I had stuck to my resolution to ‘read more’. AND ‘according to one commonly cited statistic’ (thank you Google) only 8% of people actually keep their new year’s resolutions. Hello, resolution party for one!
Full of unabashed confidence, I decided to commit to another year of reading goals: ‘read more than 15 books in a year’. Was I momentarily tempted to go with the classic ‘lose weight’ or ‘sleep more’ option? Nah, I’d like to remain in the very small percentage of people who make resolutions they will keep!
So, again, I’ll be keeping things SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) but, this year, using my learning from 2017 as a point of reference, there’ll be a stronger focus on the A for attainable.
Enter, 2018: A Reading Party.
*originally published 18 January 2018 via The Lady Edison
