The ‘No New Year’s Resolution’ Resolution!

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I’ve just returned from my longest vacation-from-blogging that I’ve had in the the 3 years since I’ve been writing this blog.

Some of it had to do with poor internet access where I was traveling; it was supposed to be a ‘first world country’ but had ‘third world’ internet access. But, that was also probably a side effect of the second reason that I didn’t post: I was too damn tired/busy from touring.

I made the ‘mistake’ of agreeing to take a two week educational/discovery tour with a busload of other families from my childrens’ school: whilst educational, it was hardly a vacation! On the bus / off the bus … next historical site … on the bus / off the bus … three to four times each day. Crawl into bed each night exhausted, on the bus again by 8am the next day.

And, being a group tour, the hotels were set at the lowest common denominator: around 3 stars, hence the poor internet access.

Now, this probably sounds like fun to my main readership base (sub-30’s singles or young couples / no kids) … the rest of you are nodding in silent agreement: there comes a point where Hilton-hopping is REALLY what you need in a vacation!

Anyhow, we’re back and enjoying Resort Cartwood (i.e. home) with it’s huge landscaped and tiled 5-star surroundings, pool, tennis court, home theater, and so on … who needs a holiday away from home!

We celebrated New Year whilst away … which really means that we did nothing but had a wonderful view of the fireworks from our hotel window.

But, it did get me thinking:

Why make resolutions on New Year?

Does that mean that you wait – on average – 6 months to finally build up the courage to ‘resolve’ to do something that you already know is important for you to start doing / quit doing?

Does that mean that you put off for an average of 6 months that which you ALREADY know you must change?

Does that mean that New Year Resolutions are yet another means of justifying procrastination?

Does that mean that you build up the change to such a crescendo that by the time New Year comes and you – for some reason – fail to succeed in making the change, you’ll be too ashamed to try again (at least until 10-12 months later when the next New Year comes around and you build up the courage to ‘try’ again)?

So, why not have a New Day’s Resolution?

If you have something that you need to change, don’t wait until a New Year to resolve to change it, wait until the next day?

Well, I even have an issue with that!

You see, why delay – even a tiny bit – by RESOLVING to do anything?

Why not just DO? Now!

And, don’t even fool yourself into ‘trying’; do as Yoda says:

Try Not. Do or Do not. There is no try.

That’s why I’ve just resolved to never again make another New Year Resolution … at least, not until next year 😉

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6 thoughts on “The ‘No New Year’s Resolution’ Resolution!”

  1. Welcome back – it sounds like you need a holiday.

    Research shows that new year’s resolutions have a pretty high failure rate – one of the reasons why I stopped making them years ago. I also found I had the opposite problem – I would identify things I wanted to do and, if I was near the end of the year, put them off to “next year”. It’s usually best just to get on with it.

    That said, with either being on holiday or the office being quieter than usual, it’s often a convenient time to sit back and review my goals and the progress made (or not) and to think about strategy. (Of course, I do that at other times of the year as well.)

  2. Hey Adrian,

    I’m kinda stuck in a dilemma as to what I should do after graduation in June this year.

    I did my undergrad for 3 years, worked for a year and went back to school for another 2 years to get my masters.

    I recently got a job at an investment bank making around A$100k after taxes. However, I will be working 100 hour weeks.

    I really enjoyed my time when I was a kid going through highschool because I used to sell stuff online and amassed a small fortune about $30k out of that. I don’t think any 17 year old kid had that much money back then. However, I stopped selling stuff because of other commitments and ‘uni life’.

    After so many years of formal education, I think that too much education is a hinderance to entrepreneurship. I have about $50k in capital right now, and I am thinking of starting something small.

    But on the other hand, if my business doesn’t work, I will be sacrificing a ‘good’ career opportunity + time wasted. I am 23 this year, and my peers have already 2 years of work experience ahead of me.

    Cheers

  4. Thanks Adrian. Would you recommend taking up a 9-6, 60k/year job and have a little free time to work on my small internet business?

    Because I am pretty sure working 80-100hour weeks isn’t going to leave me much time for anything else. I would only have 1 income stream in this case.

  5. @ ‘Con’ – I can’t tell you what to do. I can’t even advise you what to do! But, I can ask you some questions, and leave you to mull over the answers, which may help you in making your own decision:

    1. Which would give you more/better corporate experience, if you worked for only 2 years?

    2. If the answer to 1. = the $100k job then do you have an absolute belief in your business idea … enough to justify the risk of chucking the job in?

    Remember: even Mark Zuckerberg stayed at college until FB took off.

    This all assumes that the $100k / yr job and starting a business – unlike in FaceBook’s case – are mutually exclusive?! 😉

  6. Pingback: Start a new business or work 100 hours per week?- 7million7years

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