Forget Resolutions: Focus on Habits and Projects
No matter how many articles get written about how resolutions don't work, come January, everyone is making resolutions. And they keep making resolutions the same way, year after year.
This year I am going to try something different. I broke down what I want for myself in 2017 into two buckets -- habits and projects.
Habits: I imagine you know what a habit is and these are what, for many people, would be traditional resolutions. Get to the gym, eat better -- that sort of thing. For me, in 2017, I've decided to focus on a few habits that I want to cultivate this year. I have set goals for myself for each of them, but I've also decided that my real goal is to track myself against these habits. The idea is to figure out what works and what doesn't so that it can really become a habit -- something I no longer need to think about and track because it just works. I've picked 5 habits that I want to track, which is probably too many. But since I've only committed to tracking them, at least for January, I think it's okay. Also, they are habits across a few different dimensions that are aimed at, yes, getting me to the gym, but also reading more books, getting more massages (!), making more connections and planning better weekends with my family.
Projects: These are anything that have an end. Unlike habits, projects are not about making an ongoing change. Certain projects have a tendency to languish on my task lists forever. Generally projects that would be good to do (paint the apartment, declutter my wardrobe) but aren't a must-do. Right now I have a list of seven projects, but that will change over the course of the year as I complete some, add others and choose to ditch some.
Next I need to set some timelines around the projects so they don't just languish again. Some are timebound (my sister is getting married in June!) so those will happen. The ones I need to think about a bit are the ones that aren't -- like revamping my home office and seeing a dermatologist.
I'll report back at the end of January on how it's going, especially on the habits.