The Nothing and Everything New Year’s Resolution - 2016
I’ve clearly already failed at my New Year’s Resolutions. It isn’t even the second day of the new year, and I’m already certain that I won't live up to my own expectations and the examples.
I’ve clearly already failed at my New Year’s Resolutions. It isn’t even the second day of the new year, and I’m already certain that I won’t live up Zuckerberg’s militaristic discipline in thank-you-letter writing. I clearly won’t have enough science backing my willpower. And I don’t need to worry about the process of deciding and setting resolutions getting any more complicated.
New Year’s Resolutions are becoming another game that no one wins
While browsing my news feed, I was overcome with that information-overload pang of regret. “Shouldn’t I also be setting resolutions to become the person I’ve always wanted to be?” I thought. There is so much that I could be that I clearly am not. Books I could read, people I could meet, letters I could write, and places I could visit. There is an infinite number of things that I could resolve to do. Except that I shouldn’t. There is something more important than any infinite number of possible improvements in my life, well-being. It’s what I’m already doing.
Resolving to be a better me
My resolution this year is to do nothing different and focus everything on a few simple things — being a better dad, father, son, friend, client, supplier, manager, employee, coach, peer and citizen.
There is only one thing to focus on — how can I get better at those things that I’m already doing? Whether 1%, 5% or more, any improvement matters to those people around me. I am the sum of those lives I touch and the relationships I build.
Can you be a better ‘you’ this year?
This year, I’m not making a resolution to change my life. I’m resolving to do nothing. I’m also resolving to do everything I can.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on January 2, 2016.