Column: Resolve to make small goals
Published Jan. 22, 2010
This year, I have heard significantly less discussion about New Year's resolutions than I did in high school.
I'm not sure whether to attribute this to the delay between Jan. 1 and the start of classes, people being more guarded about their goals for the year with newer friends as opposed to people they have known for years or a general disillusionment with the idea of setting and keeping a specific goal.
All three of those make plenty of sense, especially the third. After all, how many people have you actually heard of who have kept their resolutions? I'm not sure if I've heard of any.
It almost seems as though resolutions are meant to be broken. This year the one person on campus I've spoken to about resolutions said hers would be broken within the month. It's discouraging to those trying to keep resolutions to see everyone else breaking them.
I stopped making resolutions last year, but I’m writing about them, because I've taken that most-exalted "female prerogative" and changed my mind.
It’s not really my mind I've changed, but instead how I think about resolutions. Instead of setting specific goals as resolutions, I'm instilling processes that will hopefully lead to better habits.
Instead of resolving to make a difference this year, for example, I'm resolving to put forth more effort in the activities that make a difference.
I'm a member of the Invisible Children chapter here at MU, but last semester the thought of walking to the Arts and Science Building at 7 p.m. Sunday lost its appeal once the sun started setting before 5 p.m. This semester, I'm resolving to make that trek because it is stupid and selfish not to go help when the people being helped are so much less fortunate than me they never see my level of comfort. That perspective is a driving fire in me getting up and getting to those meetings.
Another habit-related resolution I'm working on is spending more time studying in different areas of campus.
Last semester I limited myself mainly to my room, the lounge of my floor (not conducive to studying in the slightest) and, only at the very end of the semester, Memorial Union. Because it seems I'm going to need to get well acquainted with the library for my History of Modern Europe class, I think I'm going to start there. There's also the lounge of the Student Center by the bookstore, and when it gets warmer it should provide opportunities to study outside. Somewhere I'm sure to find a combination that works for me.
Other than that, I have a few small, habit-based resolutions. I'm resolving to sort my trash for recycling before it goes in a trashcan. There is basically no effort in putting trash in one place or another, but if it's all together when I go to the trash room I'm not going to want to go through the process of picking apart garbage. I'm also resolving to use the Student Recreation Complex more often, which we pay fees for but I seldom used last semester.
Hopefully, thinking over these better habits will help some people who can relate to what I've written. Maybe others can think of even better habits that can be made into resolutions. Whichever, I hope this year is a positive experience for everyone.