To resolve or not to resolve, that is the question. It\u2019s the one we ask ourselves each January as the annual invitation to start over rolls around. In the media, there\u2019s the usual flurry of \u201cHow to make resolutions that last\u201d-type articles (the kind of stuff I love to read), along with the expected slew of \u201cWhy making resolutions is a waste of time\u201d pieces (not my cup of tea). Personally, I feel resolution-making as an expression of the will to self-improvement is never to be discouraged: the simple act of voicing a desire to change and then attempting to do so is a massive step forward. For me, failure to keep a resolution does not indicate that making resolutions is futile; rather it suggests that the resolution was perhaps the wrong one for you, or it was made for the wrong reasons, or \u2013 crucially \u2013 it was badly worded.<\/p>\n
Specific and committed<\/strong><\/p>\n The way in which we word and specify our intentions is crucial to their longevity. The difference between \u201cI\u2019m going to be healthier in 2015\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m going to jog for 10 minutes twice a week in 2015\u201d is huge. The first is vague and contains no real action, the second is specific and involves a solid commitment. Which is more likely to be kept?<\/p>\n Now, you\u2019d think that, self-improvement info junkie that I am, I\u2019d be able to sidestep these kinds of mental potholes. Think again. This New Year, I caught myself making a whopper of a rookie error as I sat down to set some intentions for 2015. There I was with a nice list of all the things I wanted to find more time for over the year \u2013 yoga, new coaching clients, promoting my work as a writer \u2013 when I noticed that every item on that list was \u2013 mentally \u2013 preceded by the words \u201cI will find more time to\u2026\u201d See the fatal flaw? Answers on a postcard to the woman who\u2019s still looking through her chest of drawers to find where she left that bit of spare time she just knows she put somewhere for safekeeping.<\/p>\n Stop searching, start creating<\/strong><\/p>\n What was I thinking? You don\u2019t find time for anything. Time is not a crumpled fiver you come across down the side of the sofa, nor is it something you discover left over at the end of a long day. Time is finite; no-one gets any more than 24 hours in a day.<\/p>\n The minute I changed the word \u201cfind\u201d to \u201cmake\u201d, my perspective on my resolutions changed. I am going to have to make time to prospect for clients, clear space in my diary for that extra yoga class, and \u2013 whisper it \u2013 make the choice between crashing on the sofa like an extra from The Walking Dead and getting out the laptop to write. Finding time is about trying to cram even more into the day, snatching five minutes here and there. Making time is about saying no to activities that aren\u2019t priority, crafting your schedule to work towards your objectives, and making conscious decisions about where you put your energy at any given moment \u2013 which sometimes means giving up things that aren\u2019t useful and don\u2019t serve you.<\/p>\n A sense of agency<\/strong><\/p>\n It all comes down to a feeling of agency, really. Making time puts me firmly in the driver\u2019s seat of my life, relying on myself to make the decisions that get me where I want to be. Finding time \u2013 just like finding a forgotten banknote \u2013 relies to a large extent on luck and good fortune. And my goals are a little too important to me to leave them in the lap of the gods. Aren\u2019t yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To resolve or not to resolve, that is the question. It\u2019s the one we ask ourselves each January as the annual invitation to start over rolls around. In the media, there\u2019s the usual flurry of \u201cHow to make resolutions that last\u201d-type articles (the kind of stuff I love to read), along with the expected slew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168],"tags":[182,183,184,185,186],"class_list":["post-851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","tag-choices-2","tag-january-2","tag-new-year-resolution-2","tag-time-2","tag-time-management-2"],"yoast_head":"\n