Fact: I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.
They never really feel concrete enough. I suppose ‘get more sleep’, ‘stop eating so many cupcakes’ and ‘actively use your gym membership’ sound great in theory – but in reality, I always feel like they a) aren’t specific enough and b) merely pipe dreams.
‘Resolution’ by definition (thanks, Oxford Dictionary) is: ‘a firm decision to do something.’
And that’s all fair and well. (I’m sure New Year’s resolutions work out for some people but, truth be told, I am not one of them.) My New Years resolutions have never been ‘firm’ or even ‘decisions’. They tend towards the spectrum of hopes, dreams and wishes.
So instead of writing up a list of things I’ll end up not doing, I write myself a letter – about where I was last year and where I’d like to go this year – and set myself some tangible, realistic goals. And then, most importantly, I develop a game plan.
But while I was thinking about these annual goals (write and complete the novel that’s taken over my every thought, start my degree, read 110 books, etc, etc) I came up with another list.
A list of goals every single one of us can achieve this year.
Some may call these unambitious – but the way I figure it, the little things count too.
I’m sure you’ve got a lot to do this year: whether that entails becoming a parent, getting a promotion, re-watching every episode of Suits that’s ever aired, or keeping your houseplants alive.
And no matter what you do/don’t achieve this year, you’ll be happy to know you’re bound to unintentionally accomplish some of these.
1. Go to bed later than you should.
2. Spend a weekend binge-watching a TV show.
3. Get a great idea in the middle of the night and write it down. But have no idea what it means in the morning.
4. Spend too much time on Facebook.
5. Think about arguing with someone on social media (decide you’re better than that).
6. Change the empty toilet paper roll.
7. Complain about the heat in Summer.
8. Complain about the cold in Winter.
9. Do all the laundry in the house. Feel accomplished (you deserve it).
10. Yell at your cat for sitting on your laptop.
11. Forget to call someone back.
12. Take a selfie you instantly delete.
13. Buy a new notebook. Only use the first few pages. Buy another one.
14. Lose a pen or two or five.
15. Think about making plans with your friends. Stay home instead.
16. Find some money in the pocket of your pants. Feel like you’ve won the lotto.
17. Forget someone’s birthday.
18. Doodle on a piece of paper while you’re on the phone.
19. Use an eco-friendly straw. Feel like you’re saving the world, one sip at a time.
20. Sit in a meeting you don’t want to attend.
21. Burn toast.
22. Go to a restaurant and have a good time. Tip the waiter well.
23. Do a quiz on the internet that doesn’t really matter in the biggest scheme of things.
24. Put your shirt on back-to-front.
25. Have a good cup of coffee.
[…] This way, we all get to hear something we like. (And, most importantly: it means we don’t have to listen to ‘I Don’t Care’ by Ed Sheeran ft. Justin Bieber on repeat, which is what Crumb currently selects whenever his turn comes around). At the moment, my favourite is ‘Get Back Up Again’ from the Trolls soundtrack. It puts me in such a great mood every single time, and makes me feel that I (like Poppy the troll) can take on anything. […]
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YES! i feel so accomplished – I achieve quite a few of these things on a weekly basis. thanks for making me feel spectacularly successful, onward and upward. Now to see if I can set some goals that are useful too 🙂
I can get behind these. I love it xx