New Years Resolutions & The Like

I have this website on 43things.com which is basically a site where you write down what you want to accomplish in your lifetime (you’re allowed 43 things max until you “reach” your goal or “give up”-and you can continue to add more). I started going through my list last night and thinking about my 2011 resolutions that I had written last year and which resolutions I wanted to make for this year. One thing that came across my mind was how vague/unquantifiable some of my goals are!
One of my goals this year is to spend less time online. How much time is LESS time? Similarly, some goals on my list on my 43things website are read MORE, spend MORE time with God, take MORE pictures, exercise MORE. But if you really think about all these goals, sure, they’re nice goals, but how much more time should I spend doing devotions to consider it MORE time with God? If I want to practice my flute more often, how many more hours per week should I practice? How many more pictures is MORE pictures I should be taking? Thinking about 2012 coming around, I think about new years resolutions that everyone makes, and…. here’s Amanda’s Suggestions for Resolution-Making:

+Make goals that are just within reach-you don’t want to be making goals that are too hard to accomplish. For example, if you’ve never stepped foot inside a gym, it’s not going to do you any good to make a resolution to go to the gym 7 days a week for an hour a day. You’ll go to the gym one day and give up! A better goal in this case would be-Go to the gym once a week for 15 minutes a day.
+Name specific goals-Just like in my example above…you don’t want to be making vague goals (take more pictures, read more, lose some weight, etc) How many more pictures do you want to take? Do you want to take a picture a day (up from a picture a week?) How many more books do you want to read? A book a month? A book a week? A book every two months? If you have specific goals, they’ll be much more concrete and easier to reach.
+Have a partner!-If you have an accountability partner (someone who will keep tabs on your exercise, not going online)…whatever it is, your goals will be so much easier to attain, because you have that constant voice reminding you of your resolution to do XYZ task.
-BUT don’t have a partner who shares the same weaknesses as you. If you make it your new years resolution to lose weight, and your partner is someone who never goes to the gym and always munches on snacks all day, it’s probably a wiser option to find a friend who is a gym rat who will drag you to the gym when you’re most unmotivated to do so.
+Make varied goals! You want to have FUN this year, too! I get this idea from my mom and her “balanced lifestyle” goals..it’s no fun if your only New Years Resolution is to lose 200 pounds. Why not vary it and have goals to talk to one more friend each week, or help out a neighbor with cutting their grass (Could be possible, right? )?

With that, leave comments & suggestions. What other New Years Resolutions have you guys come up with so far?

Happy end-of-2011! Hopefully by this time next year, I’ll be chillaxing in Taiwan….working on some Spanish translation projects, and not see SoCal for another 4 years. Now THAT’S a worthy goal!

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