Once again, it's the start of a new year. People all around me are making new resolutions, setting new goals, defining new ambitions. Me? Nah. I've never been one for new year's resolutions. I've tried them in the past; lose weight, write more, gripe less, blah, blah, blah.
This year, I'm doing something different. Rather than saying "I'll do such and such," I'm simply going to do the things I need to do; lose weight, write more, gripe less.
When I work with managers and other leaders in training, I tell them to focus on the positive actions that need doing, rather than the negative actions that need stopping. It's time I try a little of my own advice.
I think I'll also play with the word itself; "Resolution. To decide or to determine. A formal, group decision." How about we add a hyphen and call it "Re-solution." I want to "re-solve" some of the issues I've had to deal with over the last year. Written in this manner, it simply means to "solve again", which means whatever solution I thought I had come up with, apparently didn't work. Therefore, it's time to "re-solve" the problem.
What does that really mean? I need to look at what I chose to do about the issue, examine why it didn't work, and find a different solution. I need to do this over and over until the issue is no longer an issue and is truly "re-solved, and resolved."
How does this differ from previous years? Action. I'm moving beyond "saying" and into "doing." I will also "do" in the present. It's not about what I'll do tomorrow, it's about what I am doing today. Action can only take place in the present. The past is done, over, complete, kaput. There is nothing I can do to change anything I did five minutes ago, much less, days, weeks, months, or years ago. The future is only a possibility. There is potential in the future. There is promise in the future. There is no action in the future. That is reserved for the present. Today I can act. Right now, I can act.
Ditch the new year's resolution merry-go-round. Determine what action you can take today, right now, to re-solve whatever is going on in your life. Forget the past, pencil in the future, but take action NOW.
Happy 2016.
