New Year Resolutions vs. Goals

This year, my only New Year's Resolution is to stop calling them New Year's Resolutions.

I have decided to call them Goals for 2014. I have my reasons - several of them.

Goals seem to make me feel I have more time to achieve results. I have the whole year, in fact. When I call them Resolutions, I feel I must do them NOW. That puts pressure on me. And that pressure often kills my motivation.

For example, I'd like to lose weight. If I simply jot down "lose weight," I feel pressured. However, if I set a Goal to "lose weight by end of year," I begin to take little steps. Already, today, I have begun to cut down on portions. I re-thought several things I began to grab for snacks and chose something else instead.

Goals also give me more room to set up steps toward the desired end. Resolutions are usually just strong statements and make me feel I am demanding something of myself that I might not be able to deliver.

For example, I'd like to begin to exercise. If I resolve to "exercise," I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to adapt that to my "trick knee" which limits my walking. But when I jotted down a Goal to "begin exercising more," I realized that I can begin by walking just a little each day. I couldn't start today because I didn't decide on that until after 5 p.m. and it is dark here and my legs are not stable and I cannot afford to fall. However, I am eager to begin tomorrow, just up and down our street in our mobile home community, with my quad cane for safety. I can walk a certain distance for a few weeks until I stop huffing and puffing. I can then increase it a little at a time. When I've made that a Resolution in the past, if I couldn't "exercise" heavily the first week of the year, I just gave up.

Goals also open my mind to being flexible. Resolutions are rigid.

For example, whenever I resolved to "improve my health," at the end of the first day, I'd almost be ready to give up from the enormity of the task. But when I set a Goal to "improve my health by the end of the year," I can see many ways to tackle the project. Today we went out to eat. My nephew didn't want me standing at the stove to cook. Instead of ordering my fave dish at this eatery, fish and chips, I decided on grilled chicken breast instead. Just one step, but a definite step toward cutting back on deep fried greasy stuff when eating outside. And there are tons of things I can do to achieve this specific goal.

So, I have opened a file with my Goals for 2014. I can look at it off and on each month, or each week. I can add steps along the way. I can log the things I've already done and feel good about myself and my actions.

Yep, my one New Year's Resolution is to do away with Resolutions and go with Goal Setting instead.

Happy New Year!