January is often seen as a month of transformation. The new year comes with the perfect opportunity to set goals, focus on changes you want to make, and ultimately design a better version of yourself. At this point you might be asking yourself, “You think these things are bogus?” No. In fact, I am all for these things. I just hate that we set them up around something like New Year.
Why? We seem to think that when the calendar changes by merely one digit, everything about who we are needs to change. We set goals that are far too strict, and think that if we don’t strive towards them one day we need to throw it all away. If you think about it though, the calendar changes by one digit every single day, and that is why I don’t like New Year’s Resolutions.
“This New Year I’m going to…” “I’ll start Monday.” “Next year I really want this.” All of these phrases are bogus. It creates rigid constraints around goal setting, and the truth is you’re allowed to want to set goals and to create new intentions every day. You do not have to wait until January, you can get up and decide today is the day at any given point.
The issue with these goals is also that you’re often sitting down and making one general objective you plan to follow for 365 days. That’s unreasonable, and you will probably fail. It’s much better to set small goals with shorter timelines that build to a large resolution, but this is not the standard for New Year’s Resolutions.
On the other hand, it also gives you the notion that you need to change something about yourself, and the truth is you don’t. New Year is a period of celebration, transformation, and yes, maybe even out with the old and in with the new, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be you. You are allowed to keep existing the way you have been.
Goal setting isn’t bogus. Wanting to better yourself isn’t bogus. Working towards something is awesome. However, doing it around New Year’s usually results in failure because the goals are often vague, and maybe unreasonable.
While the idea of striving towards something is cool, the constraint of only doing it when allowed sucks. You are allowed to do it whenever you want. It is never too late to start working on something you want to accomplish.