More About Resolutions

I'm still thinking about New Years Resolutions.

I'll give you a second to ponder what this picture has to do with thinking about resolutions. (Hint: It has nothing to do with Blue Öyster Cult, or with discussions about how Global Warming alarmism will play into the upcoming election.) But before I explain its significance, I'll just say a few words about what I've concluded so far.

First off, I am completely at peace with the idea that I didn't have my goals for 2012 ready for publication on Jan 1. If the tasks don't have to be completed until Dec 31, then the list really doesn't need to be written until sometime around the Winter Solstice, if you're being honest about it. Still, I do plan to finish them up this week. We'll see how that goes.

Beyond that observation, I have discovered that my Resolutions seem to fall into three broad categories. The first is "Stuff that would be super cool, but over which I have almost zero control". This would include goals such as winning the lottery, having Heather Locklear join my swim team, and seeing Ted Nugent win the New Hampshire primary. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but will not base my long-term planning on the assumption that these dreams will come true.

The second category is "Stuff that I could do this year if I was focused and disciplined, gave up television, and followed a well-crafted action plan." There is nothing to prevent me from achieving these goals, and I'll eventually get them done...but it's probably unrealistic to expect them to be completed this year. This category includes items such as publishing my next book, creating a YouTube video that's entertaining enough to go viral, and learning to speak fluent Japanese.

And speaking of Japanese, did you recognize the link between "thinking" and "flying monsters"? It's actually a pretty simple one, and doesn't require any knowledge of Star Trek.

The best known graphical representation of deep philosophical contemplation is the statue of "The Thinker", shown here in the illustration to the left. It was sculpted in 1902 by a Frenchman named Auguste Rodin. And being French (and therefore someone who talks funny), the dude pronounced his last name more like "Rodan", which as well all know, it the name of the fire-breathing flying monster depicted with Godzilla and Mega-Cujo at the top of this post.

And in case you were wondering, no, I do not know anything at all about Miss Grocery Queen 1960. And quite frankly, I'm afraid to investigate that question. Some things are best left shrouded in the mists of the past.

Anyway, the third category of resolutions includes those goals that are small enough (or vague enough) to actually be achieved. The rules for goal setting state that a goal much be specific, tied to a due date, and measurable. Goals such as "Have more fun" meet none of the three criteria, and are therefore not legitimate as "goals". I would submit, however, that they would be OK as resolutions. You could look back at the end of the year and say "Yeah, I s'pose I did have more fun than back in 2011." That's good enough for me.

So this shall be the category upon which I focus: vague, incremental, and immeasurable improvements.

I'll share a few of these resolutions with you in my next post. I'll also solicit your support in achieving them. I do expect 2012 to be an outstanding year, and the more we encourage each other toward excellence, the better it will be.

And with that, I'll leave you with the first of my resolutions for 2012: Be a better athlete. I'll provide details as to what I mean by this in the next entry. But for now, I'll leave you with some inspiring words that every coach should share with their athletes:

"We forge our bodies in the fire of our wills!"

Ah, how true. We should each ask ourselves what sort of internal fire we will generate in 2012--and then go make it happen. If you'd like, please feel free to watch the video below for context, and have a great day!