It’s January 1st. Of course, it’s time for New Year’s resolutions.
I read a friend’s newsletter stating that 40%+ people make New Year’s resolutions but only 9% stick to them. This doesn’t shock me at all. But, we resolve every year anyway.
To be effective, the first key is to keep it simple. If you have 10 new year’s resolutions that are highly prescriptive, the chances of failure are fairly high. But, if you only pick three and keep them straight, then you may have a decent chance.
I also think they can’t just be actions. You have to tie them to results. My friend’s newsletter suggested things like “writing 200 days out of 300” or “setting goals 100 days out of the 200”. That’s all great. But so what? how to measure results? So they got to be a bit more concrete and measurable.
Third, we’ve got to resolve things we otherwise don’t do. The good habits we have been an will keep. For me, it’s more things like practicing yoga from time to time or going for a jog every other day. I have been doing them and will continue doing them because they are my habits. Talking about “atomic habits”. We resolve for change. Things that we have not been doing, not achieving great results, and need a change of behavior to do better.
Last but not least, I made a conscientious decision not to resolve things that are somewhat outside of our control. Of course, we will continue to fundraise. Of course, we will always try to make good investments and make more money. And, of course, we will deal with all the BS that fate throws our way. But you can’t resolve win or lose for this kind of thing. Do your best, and let the greater being decide the outcome.
Enough talk. So there they are.
1. Return to my pre-Covid weight
I, like everyone who started working from home during Covid, gained a significant amount of weight in that process, due to a combination of fewer workouts, more at-home cooking, and eating, and probably also the easy access to snacks at all times. I don’t obsess over a certain number on the scale per se, but I have to say I don’t like how I look, especially how my nice clothes fit on my current body, and I have many of them. So I’d like to return to how I looked before Covid.
In Chinse, we say, you can’t get fat with one bite. The reverse is also true. We get to our current weight with many bites. So to lose it, we’ll have to do it bite by bite as well.
Over the years, I’ve tried many weight losing diets, including the infamous Atkins diet. It was extremely effective for me for a while, until I got off that wagon.
My husband is also an accidental practitioner of intermittent fasting, in that he doesn’t always have time to have three meals a day. He has maintained his weight since we met. Intermittent fasting of course, has been heavily researched and debated. So between these two, I’ll have to pick some kind of happy medium that can keep me satisfied yet disciplined. I am currently thinking of doing a “one meal per day” kind of exercise and focusing on eating healthy, homemade meals, and cutting snacks. We’ll see how that goes.
My point about not being overly prescriptive comes in the form of not dictating what kind of diet I will do, nor the kind of exercises. I’ve mentioned that I have been reasonably decent in doing exercises such as yoga and jogging. However, for me to lose weight, I do need to increase the intensity and frequency of my physical activities. I considered several options, such as getting a personal trainer or signing up for an expensive gym membership. I opted for getting the Mirror. It’s relatively affordable, and more importantly, by making options for exercise easily accessible without having to drive places, I think I will be more inclined to add to my exercise routine. I am considering several new exercises, such as Barre, kickboxing, and at-home weight lifting, all of which are good options for a mirror-based exercise. We’ll see how that goes.
By setting a clear goal and exercise routine, I am also hoping to cut down on other bad habits, such as staying up late and drinking. Hopefully, all of this will all contribute to my weight goal for 2023.
2. Ramping up my business
Many of you know that a big step I took in 2022 was to quit my 10-year-old career in procurement at big tech and start my own business. We went through multiple pivots, fundraising and failure thereof, getting the first customers, etc.
For this year, I have very specific goals for ramping up my business, which we will track as OKRs for the company. I won’t bore you here. Just know that they are SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time based.
Note that I have set goals for growing the business, but not for profits or fundraising. Refer to my point earlier about not trying to control things outside of our control. After experiencing the 2008 downturn, I know many of us will be in pain for a long time, probably longer than we hope. But that’s no excuse for not trying hard. While I know that it will be a rocky road for our startup going forward, my attitude is to take the punches, persevere, and carry on.
3. Learn Italian
On the last day of 2022, I submitted my application to become a US citizen.
I have been in this country for 22 years. After 20 years, I finally got a green card by marrying my husband (don’t even get me started on that journey). After three more years, I am now ready to get a blue passport. The reasons are complex, but that’s not the point. More on that later.
The point is, in this process, I was offered the chance to change my husband’s last name. I decided to do so, not because of old-school patriarchal orders, but purely for love and desire for unity.
Now that I will have an Italian last name, I finally decided to take another crack at learning Italian.
I have always been fascinated with foreign languages my whole life. If I could, I would probably learn all of them, at least three or four more, and hopefully, all entirely different ones.
But realistically and practically, as a fluent Spanish speaker, it’s much easier for me to master another Latin language. And our love for the Italian culture and travels, combined with an extended family who speaks Italian, makes Italian an easy choice.
Ultimately, it’s not about yet another language. It’s about constantly learning. Learning languages turn on a different section of the brain, so it’s a constant stimulus. Imagine all the books, songs, and art that I’d be able to understand much better. Imagine all the conversations I may be able to have on the next trip. It’s fun and exciting.
It’s also about using small chunks of time. Even though we are all extremely busy, we always have those 10, 15 minutes increments, waiting, driving, doing whatever. Instead of watching more social media, I think I am better off acquiring a new language, and a new skill.
Note that I didn’t set a specific result for this goal. Every single bit count. If I can’t get very far, so be it. I downloaded Babble, and we’ll see how we do.
4. Keep a journal
This one comes from a recent book I read about what not to do, “Essentialism”. One point the Author made is about keeping a journal.
I have also had a lifelong passion for writing, traveling, and story telling. But, as so many things happen and I continue to age, a lot of things happen in a blur. The best way to fight forgetfulness is to write it done.
The tip the Author gave is to write only a little bit every night. To achieve this, I purchased a pretty little journal. I also don’t have concrete goals or guidelines for this one. As long as I write a little something every day, it’s a success.
Hopefully, I can derive blog articles, novels, or even movie scripts out of this practice years later, but if not, just a little time per day for meditation and reflection is enough of a benefit.
So this is it. Four resolutions. Two concrete, measurable ones. The other two are just things or steps that I need to take. A healthy blend between results and actions. Not too prescriptive, but enough details. Not too ambitious but enough of a stretch to change behaviors, build new good habits, and derive health, career, and spiritual benefits.
Oh, one final tip. As you can notice, for many of these, I have taken small steps and made some investments toward achieving these goals. For my weight loss goal, I have purchased the Mirror. To learn Italian, I signed up for Babbel. And to keep my journal, I bought a beautiful journal book for 2023. Taking small steps and making some investments will give me an extra boost toward working on these goals.
So this is it. Now I’ll go out there and crash these goals. Hallelujah!
P.S., the very reason I am publishing this piece is for accountability, another tip for effective resolutions!
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