As the old year comes to a close, I start getting the itch/compulsion to create a list of New Year's Resolutions. I don't know why I torture myself this way. Most of the time all the Resolutions do is make me feel like a complete failure in December of the following year when I look back and realize that 1.) I didn't lost weight AGAIN, 2.) I didn't write the great American novel, 3.) I haven't won Powerball.
There are always a few successes, though not as many as I would like, on the list. In 2010 I did, against all odds and with about $10 emergency cash in my pocket, manage to go to Journalfest this year. I did read a book a week. I did attend another 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat and observe Noble Silence the whole time. I did start a blog. I did purchase a Kindle. I did open a savings account. There isn't anything in it, but still...
I guess that's not too bad. There was that Harvard study that indicated that people who wrote down their goals were typically much more successful than those who didn't write them down or didn't have any goals at all. And Harvard is the modern equivalent of the Oracle of Delphi, right? If Harvard shows it in a study then it's got to be true.
(The name for my next pet = Harvard.)
Maybe it's all in the semantics. To invoke the magic of The Harvard, I should rename my New Year's Resolutions, Holly's Fo' Sho' Goals of 2011. Here goes.
2011 Fo' Sho' Goals
1. FINISH THE HOUSE - That's the big one. The kitchen cabinets were pushed back to Jan. 26th, but I'm not going to let that get me down. If I do a little bit every day, and hammer and tongs on the weekends it should be completed by Feb.
2. Put up a chain link fence around the backyard so that Beckett can go outside at the new house without becoming a cat-snack for local coyotes or cat-pizza on the road.
3. Move into the house.
4. Make a microloan through Kiva every month.
5. Read a book a week.
6. Watch less TV. (Even though I luuuurve TV, my mother was right - it really does rot your brain.)
7. Swear less. (Man, this is going to cut my current vocabulary in half. I'll be reduced to using clicks, growls and burps to communicate.)
8. Complete *&#%^$! Nanowrimo.
9. Meditate four days a week.
10. Go on a meditation retreat.
11. Lose 20 pounds.
12. Attend Journalfest 2011.
13. Dematerialize. (Not in the Star Trek manner, but as in getting rid of excess possessions.)
14. Save $1 a day.
15. Fast one day a week. (Mondays pretty much suck anyway, so why not?)
16. Make a smaller ecological footprint.
17. Post on my blog at least twice a week.
18. Find a way(s) to give back.
19. Visit friends in Colorado.
20. Create every day.
How about you? What's are your Fo'Sho' Goals for next year?
OneEighthWhiteBodewadmi RESOLUTIONS:
ReplyDelete1. Be more like Holly.
2. Live vicariously through Holly (call me when you and the d are 'on').
3. Attend Journalfest with Holly.
4. Resist urge to taunt Holly with centipede jokes.
5. Stop freaking Holly out.
We are ON for Journalfest 2011. We are GOING, come hell and/or whatever.
ReplyDeleteThe centipede thing totally freaked me out, but that was mostly Saul, not you. From the look on your face, you were trying to supress the gag reflex just as much as I was.
You are definitely on the speed dial for me and the D. :))
Hollywolly. My dear, innocent child. D does not mean diet.
ReplyDeleteGet a swear jar! Me and a few friends did that at college and raised £50 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. It'll help you achieve 7 and 14 on your list. =D
ReplyDelete1/8: I know buh-zactly WHO The D is. ;)
ReplyDeleteStocker: A swear jar! That is a great idea. The Marie Cure Cancer Care swear jar proceeds should result in a new hospital wing.
but just because you resolve to swear LESS doesn't me you have to give it up all together right!
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I love my swear words. I know it makes me sound vulgar, unladylike, ignorant, illiterate, uneducated, and witless, but I can't help it! There is something so satisfying about it in the moment :)