Not a New Year's Resolution for 2014 ...

[1taskaday]

Instead of making New Year’s resolutions for the start of a new year, I always decide what my theme/intention for the year will be.

I find this works much better than trying to achieve goals that if not worked towards routinely can be dropped by February. Other years I have picked themes such as well-being and balance, peace of mind and relaxation. Each a separate theme/intention for a full year.

After thinking about this for a while, I think my theme for 2014 will be “Self-discipline”. This year I will practice a lot of self-discipline and hardly any procrastination.

The major areas of my life where I hope this will improve are my work life, exercise and grooming and appearance. Naturally I need no improvement on finances, as being a non-consumerist I only spend when necessary.

While thinking on the theme of "self-discipline" I have been looking up all the books on this topic on Amazon and have come to the conclusion that a morning ritual or habit could kick-start each day to be more efficient/fruitful.

Has anyone read "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod? Is it any good or just the usual clap trap time management type of information? I know he has a forum on this topic as well.

I love leisurely mornings and when I retire that will be one of my greatest pleasures,(I think),but often I find if I laze around in the morning the day can go to complete waste ,especially in the Winter as the hours of daylight are so short.

I have heard of many people that get up really early to walk or exercise for an hour before they start their day, (as much as this nearly kills me to think about), maybe this is what I need to do to make more efficient use of my time.

I am already pretty fit and lean so this is not what I am trying to achieve. What I’m after is really becoming more self-disciplined and efficient in my life in 2014.

[Ian]

I've been doing yearly goals for a while now and I find them focusing. I don't consider them iron-clad obligations: in 2013 I only finished part of a major project because I was more inspired to do something comparable that wasn't planned. Not a failure, the 2013 project just rolls over to 2014.

Most of my goals are personal projects I won't talk about much. Some of them are more like benchmarks: keep up the savings rate, get my contract renewed, invest a given amount. They shouldn't be a challenge, they're just projections of my current choices.

I decided to throw in a physical challenge this year for variety. I'll be giving the 100 pushup challenge my best effort, since it matches the time and facilities available right now.

[1taskaday]

Ian, Yes I think you have put my concept of "The New Year's Resolution" in to better words than I did.

They are not iron-clad obligations or a list that needs to be adhered to or given up if not, but more a "focusing" and an inspiration/theme in one's life throughout 2014.

Having slept on the notion of self-discipline for 2014, my sub conscious has thrown up the answer (as I find it often does when I awaken), of getting up every morning at 6:30am.Now to a lot of people this is probably a normal time to get up, but 7:45am would be my norm during school/work days.

I think I have found my first signpost on this journey of self-discipline in 2014-try to get up most mornings at 6:30am.

To do what I don't know??, but that's what will make the journey of more self-discipline and efficiency in 2014 more interesting.

[saving-10-years]

Thanks 1tasaday for the idea of a theme rather than a resolution. I am not one for annual resolutions as usually I have a set of goals as part of a five year plan. With so many changes this year I need another (very different) 5 year plan. But I am happy to think of my objective (mindset) for 2014 as being balance. I have been very imbalanced in the past 18 months. Putting up with it as I think of it as a short term thing, but its the cummulative effect of letting lots of little things slide.

* Balance in how I spend my time and who I spend it with. (Make time for people I care about)
* Balance in what I eat (could be a whole lot better)
* Balance in where the money comes from. Not 100% employment for the first time and so how to work that balance in the future is a key decision occupying a lot of thought.
* Balance between sedentary (screen time) and active time. (Currently very poor).

I had problems with an unstable ankle this year and that was to do with imbalance. I am in to 'in balance' by the end of 2014. Or at least more more in balance.

[GandK]

I like the theme idea, too.

I think my theme for 2014 will be 'Finishing.' I have a dozen or so unfinished projects from the last few years and I feel like a failure for having started those things and never finished. I'd like 2014 to be the year of either checking old projects off my list or deciding that they aren't worth any more of my time/energy/money and judiciously abandoning them.

[Dragline]

Having a theme or a purpose is a good idea. Here is an article related to that:
http://www.raptitude.com/2013/12/find-b ... your-days/

I like this idea because I view life as a series of chapters. Who wants to read a book where the chapters are all the same?

I also like Taleb's idea of "via negativa", which means don't make a list of things that you are going to START doing, but instead make one of things you are going to STOP doing or wasting your time/money/effort on. And people, as the case may be.

The fewer things you are doing out of old habits and unconscious patterns, the more things you can do out of conscious desire.

[jacob]

Alternative, write an essay about everything you learned this past year.
Do this consistently and it might make for interesting reading n years down the road.

[Seneca]

I (we) do goals that end up a web style, but I've found over time balance comes from rotating themes and relying on habits created during that focus to keep working at certain levels while working on taking some other aspect to a higher level.

[saving-10-years]

@Seneca I see what you mean about balance - sounds sorted for you. I am from April 2014 going to be retired (whatever that means) and its the 'whatever that means' that I need to work on. I have to find a completely new set of balancing principles. Obviously for what replaces work but I have an option to look at what balances all sorts of other aspects of my life. Maybe I could have said 'harmony', or 'sustainability' (I like that word), but for me its important to really think through what is being taken and given through the new decisions I will make in 2014.

Lots to learn from examples here - reading the What to do to fill the time thread and picking up ideas from that. I have lots of ideas, but I suspect that many of those will get ditched or seem less important as the year goes on. Its all going to be very interesting to try ...

[lilacorchid]

I do this too. Last year I decided I was going to try sewing and either love it and make my own clothes, or hate it and sell the machine and free up the real estate in my house for other things. The year before that, I decided I was going to take care of my health and see my doctor and dentist for a once over.

This year, it's health again, but stepped up. I have all the baseline stuff taken care of, now I need to work on my fitness.

@jacob - I like that idea and I think I'm going to do that.

[1taskaday]

Great article by Raptitude, thanks Dragline, had missed that one.
The line "You could call this a minimalist attitude to growth" made me laugh.
In what area of life does this "minimalist attitude" not work best?

Jacob, The essay idea of what was learned over a particular year sounds interesting but I just can't get my head around what you would be writing on?

Are you talking technical details such as "How to service a lawnmower? Or learning in the sense of
"What I learned about myself when I was involved in conflict at work"?

I have kept a written journal in the past and it's hilarious to read back and see what was wrecking my head at that particular time but while reading it, it all seems so absurd and meaningless.

[George the original one]

I have kept a written journal in the past and it's hilarious to read back and see what was wrecking my head at that particular time but while reading it, it all seems so absurd and meaningless.

If you're prone to having things wrecking your head, then there's the obvious lesson that it will all seem absurd and meaningless in the long run, so why are you letting these things pound on you?

[1taskaday]

Ha, Ha, I think its called being "human".

It's always so obvious in retrospect. Wisdom definitely comes with age or should anyway.

Maybe it's my genetic make-up, maybe I learned this response from my parents, or I often think that it may have something to do with being an INTJ - not sharing much with others. Constantly thinking, thinking and more thinking in my own mind.

My thesis on the whole thing is that we're here (on earth) on a journey to learn and evolve. If we don't learn "the lesson" it will keep coming back at us in different forms until we grasp it.

I have got much better at not letting "things get to me”, that split second where I control my reaction/response. But alas, despite my best intentions and all the knowledge that I’ve got from books on the subject I still have a way to go.

[jennypenny]

I've been thinking about this for the last few days. I've never been a fan of new year's resolutions. The idea of sitting down once a year to critique and catalog one's weaknesses and develop a strategy for improvement seems harsh and a little inhuman. I don't mind goals and plans--I'm actually kind of obsessed with them--but making a list of everything I think needs improvement in my life seems like focusing on the negative too much.

So...to go with the theme idea, I think my theme is getting my mojo back. I lost it this year. Some of it was my fault. Some of it wasn't. No sense making excuses or figuring out which things I could have done differently. I'm just going to press forward and try and recapture it. I'm not going to make a list of big goals for the year. Sometimes, when I focus too much on the long-term goals, the days slip through my fingers. I'm just going to work on making my days better. Hopefully, by being kinder to myself, I'll heal enough to get my mojo back.

Every day won't be great, but I can try and find enjoyable moments in each day. If I'm sitting in a doctor's office, I can focus on the great book I'm reading instead of obsessing over the fact that I'm in another doctor's office. I'm going to exercise because it feels good to sweat, not because it's part of some larger plan. I'm going to turn up the music. I'm going to stop feeling guilty for reading too much. I'm going to enjoy the horse-trading part of investing I like so much instead of constantly comparing returns to last month, last year, etc. I'm going to stop feeling guilty for spending time here because you guys make me think, laugh, and feel normal.

Maybe next year I'll feel moved to improve, but I'm taking this year off.

[Dragline]

In the signs of the consumerist apocalypse category -- what on earth would compel someone to do this for a year?

http://stage.wtop.com/209/3534644/Woman ... whole-year

[Ego]

In the signs of the consumerist apocalypse category -- what on earth would compel someone to do this for a year?

http://stage.wtop.com/209/3534644/Woman ... whole-year

A few years ago we lived next door to a family with a daughter who managed the closing shift at a Starbucks. She would fill her trunk with next-day expiring food. Her entire family subsisted on the stuff for free.

[jennypenny]

In the signs of the consumerist apocalypse category -- what on earth would compel someone to do this for a year?

http://stage.wtop.com/209/3534644/Woman ... whole-year

The scariest part is that that's considered newsworthy.

[sshawnn]

I've been thinking about this for the last few days. I've never been a fan of new year's resolutions. The idea of sitting down once a year to critique and catalog one's weaknesses and develop a strategy for improvement seems harsh and a little inhuman. I don't mind goals and plans--I'm actually kind of obsessed with them--but making a list of everything I think needs improvement in my life seems like focusing on the negative too much.

So...to go with the theme idea, I think my theme is getting my mojo back. I lost it this year. Some of it was my fault. Some of it wasn't. No sense making excuses or figuring out which things I could have done differently. I'm just going to press forward and try and recapture it. I'm not going to make a list of big goals for the year. Sometimes, when I focus too much on the long-term goals, the days slip through my fingers. I'm just going to work on making my days better. Hopefully, by being kinder to myself, I'll heal enough to get my mojo back.

Every day won't be great, but I can try and find enjoyable moments in each day. If I'm sitting in a doctor's office, I can focus on the great book I'm reading instead of obsessing over the fact that I'm in another doctor's office. I'm going to exercise because it feels good to sweat, not because it's part of some larger plan. I'm going to turn up the music. I'm going to stop feeling guilty for reading too much. I'm going to enjoy the horse-trading part of investing I like so much instead of constantly comparing returns to last month, last year, etc. I'm going to stop feeling guilty for spending time here because you guys make me think, laugh, and feel normal.

Maybe next year I'll feel moved to improve, but I'm taking this year off.

Good stuff.....

[1taskaday]

Jennypenny,I agree totally with everything you said-I am my own number 1 fan.
All you really need in life is one loyal adoring fan.

I loved the book "Women Who Run with the Wolves"by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.

[Seneca]

<stuff>

Maybe next year I'll feel moved to improve, but I'm taking this year off.

Sounds like you're improving what needs improving this year to me.