Alternative to Resolutions

Many folks have already flooded their blogs, vlogs, and social media on tips and tricks to make sure you get things done for the new year. I won’t add to the noise with my list of quick tips and tricks. I found those quickly don’t work for me lol

What has worked is the commitment to making things happen in my life. A lifestyle change of sorts. A healthier respect of my own ego… so to speak.

What’s my alternative? Before proceeding, a word of caution. What works for me may not work for you at all. This is how I crafted many solutions to make my own. Proceed understanding that this is for entertainment reading and is not an in-depth analysis for you to copy

I start with the understanding that humans like a clean fresh start. A way of wiping the slate clean, feeling good that things will be different this time around. That happens every first of the month, every birthday, every anniversary, every new anything you can think of. Like say… lunar new moon, new t.v. season, etc.

I then pick a theme of what I would like to work on and figure what the completion will look like. Then fill in the blanks of how to get there.

Example:

During my photography journey, I knew and identified key things I had to get better at doing. From zooming on the fly… ie without auto zoom… to manually focusing on images I wanted. I also knew that it took a lot of time to practice shooting. So, start of the year, I planned a few free Sundays in spring and early summer to go out and shoot many different scenes and people with the sole focus of that skill I wanted to learn.

Now, marking that in my calendar, I had reminders set so I wouldn’t forget. When the time came, it was all about honoring the preset appointments and getting out there to shoot. Before the days of shooting came, there was time spent on discussion forums talking to people, talking to photographers in person, looking at tons of images.

I did the preparation work. Then, when shooting time came, I knew what to try to make happen. During the shooting season, I always made a point of reviewing all my photos. Planned calendar time to review all my work. Compared them to the professionals. Asked for feedback.

It took a lot of work. But, by the time the year was over, I had the skill improvement I was hoping for. And along the way, there were many course corrections to ensure I would reach my goal.

Of course, I never called this a New Year Resolution. I purposefully started this process a few months before the prior year closed so I could have momentum already on my side going into the New Year. That way, I didn’t have to start up fresh in winter… as I already know that that’s the worse time of the year for me to start new challenges (look at all my prior attempts at New Year’s Resolutions)

The point of me banishing Resolutions….

Without goals and ambitions, life just cruises on by. For some, that’s the whole point. And that’s perfectly fine for them. Not for me. I’m a bit of a type-A personality. I have to feel like I’m making progress towards something.

Since I’ve kicked resolutions to the curb, my goal setting game has steadily improved with the expected setbacks. The difference is… now setbacks don’t hurt my ego or diminish my self esteem. They’re accounted for in the planning already.

This doesn’t mean every year is wonderfully progressive. There are years where life just happens and you don’t move forward at all. But, on the other years when progress can be made, man, it’s extra sweet!

My goals are not limited to a single year time frame either. That’s the other advantage of not having single year resolutions. I can’t fail on December 31 because that’s never the deadline or end point for any of my goals I set for myself. It however can be a great review point though 🙂

Since the alternative I use to resolutions doesn’t depend on January 1 for starting and December 31 for ending, on the next page, I’ll share how goals can support your Resolution, as that also works for some… click 3 below