Ah! It’s that time of year again when we come up with a list of ‘to do’s’ for the next three hundred and sixty-five days. Yes, this ‘to do’ list isn’t just an ordinary chore list! It’s a power-packed, long-term-focus paper that’s on everyone’s minds.
What comes to mind when you think of “New Year’s Resolutions” (NYR)? I imagine a huge neon sign with different colors of flashing letters. It sparkles for a while and then, the electricity goes out — and that’s the end of it! While that may be a rather pessimistic view of the NYR, you have to agree that’s exactly the reason why they are famous in the first place. It’s almost as if no new year can arrive without tugging along a list of soon-to-be broken resolutions.
An NYR could do with a tag line — “playing for time” — which is often what it turns out to be. I mean, it’s in November or early December when we start thinking, “Oh well, might as well start (losing weight / controlling my temper / saving money) from the first of January!” Uh... hello? What do you do with the rest of the days in between? “Uh...” Exactly my point! Most of the time, our NYRs are a conscious / sub-conscious attempt to pacify our rational side that keeps telling us it’s about time we finally did our ‘to-do’s.’ In fact, if you try to think a teeny bit deep, it becomes obvious that our NYRs are nothing but reworded (or even copy-pasted) old NYRs! So it’s the same ‘to do’ list that we keep copying onto crisp, new paper with sharpened pencils in neat handwriting!
I might have upset some die-hard NYR fans. Well, all right, all NYRs aren’t a waste of time. With some people, they work pretty well and I’d say that’s an achievement! But then, these are the same people who are actually very organized and committed. An NYR, to them, is the sum total of each coming month’s ‘to do’ list so it actually helps them organize their lives even better. Then, there are some people who take their NYRs forward to a considerable extent because of burning guilt. After all, by the end of the first week of January, sincerity is seriously tested and it’s the resulting guilt that sometimes brings out the best in people and in how they deal with their NYRs.
On the whole, though, I would say the concept of NYRs needs to be replaced because it’s generally more of an unachievable goal than a motivating factor. There’s such a lot of pessimism surrounding the concept of NYRs and sarcastic humor poking fun at every indication (really?) that we need something that actually works. I’ve seen that short-term goals which are set for weeks or a month at a time, perhaps, are better at the job. There’s little room for procrastination and the chore that is written down in the resolution list is usually pretty urgent. There’s also less of a chance that you’ll lose your list and even if you do, I bet you’ll have already memorized its contents.
Scrapping the idea of NYRs would also help people like my sister, who usually forgets all about making her NYRs until it’s already the first of January. Rather than suffering from shock and regret, I should suggest to her the NWR (Next Week Resolutions) and the NMR (Next Month Resolutions). And while I’m doing that, I should get started on my own NWR — for the first week of January, of course! That should be a cheerful and fruitful way to begin the New Year! Cheers!