New Years; better than the old ones?

The end of one year is traditionally the time to start reflecting on that year and start planning for the next one. But frankly where I sit it all feels like much of the same. There’s only a couple of things I need to get done before 2009 ends, though those things are stressing me out.

[ad#adsense250]And then there’s the New Year’s Resolution. You know, that ritual in which you say you’re going to do one thing or not do another, fail a couple of weeks into January and then feel terrible for the rest of the month?

Astrologer Jonathan Cainer often remarks that the beginning of the new calendar year is a terrible time, astrologically speaking, to make such bold change. I tend to think it’s a terrible time of year too. I mean most people partake in much too much alcohol on December 31st. I doubt this puts you in good standing to achieve anything that requires a great feat of willpower come January 1st.

Professor Timothy Pychyl from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, suggests it is a way of making us feel good without doing too much. In his iProcrastinate podcast, he suggests that New Year’s Resolutions can sometimes be falsely internalised aspirations because of the cultural script, the cultural expectation that you should have a New Year’s Resolution. He talks about the sheer joy you can experience just by naming your aspiration. But he also warns that without acknowledging and planning for the obstacles you’ll experience, you’re destined to fail.

Some of the things he talks about include:

• Acknowledging that you ‘won’t feel like it’ and that if it were so easily achievable, you would have achieved it already;
• Resisting the urge to ‘give in to feel good’;
• The importance of not giving up entirely even when you stumble in the short term;
• Setting up ‘implementation strategies’ (how you will achieve your outcome);
• Fitting your goal into your life using the ‘un-schedule’ (when you will work on your outcome);
• Don’t put off the actions you need to take. Don’t wait for the ‘New Year’ – just get started (now)!

I strongly suggest you check out the podcast episode. It’s a take on resolutions quite unlike any I had heard before.