How Not To Fail

How are you doing with your New Year's Resolutions? If you're like 90% of the population you'll have broken them at least once by now! I managed to break one of mine several times already!


The key thing to remember is that it doesn't matter how many times you fall off your horse, as long as you get back on it again. Or to put it another way, the only way to fail is if you give up.


This year I've designed my New Years Resolutions so that I'm less likely to give up. For example, I had been considering structuring my weekday evenings so that on Mondays I could play games, on Tuesday I'd do DIY, on Wednesdays I'd read work-related books. Basically these measures would help me to get more stuff done.


But personally I hate restricting myself so much - it totally deadens any sense of enjoyment when I feel that I "have" to do things at a certain time. I really prefer autonomy and spontaneity. So, rather than set myself up to fail, I've decided to abandon this particular resolution. I'll continue to do stuff as and when I feel like it, and I'm not going to feel bad if some stuff takes ages or doesn't get done at all.


My most important resolution is to be kinder. This is the one I've already broken twice, but I'm not giving up on it. It'll just take a little while to change this habit. Being a techie geek with a very scientific outlook, I tend to be very analytical. I then can get a bit pedantic and feel that it's necessary to correct other people's mistakes and argue when I disagree with them. Instead, I'm trying to just take a step back and remember that it's usually better to be kind than to be right. 


I'm not going to shy away from challenging others when it's really important. And if I notice that you've set your shirt tails on fire, I won't avoid telling you for fear of upsetting you :)   Basically I think it's all about picking your battles more carefully and seeing the bigger picture.


Apart from that, my only other resolution is to run a half marathon this year. I guess it's more of a goal than a resolution, but still. We've bought a treadmill and I'm planning on running several times per week. I had thought about specifying exactly how many times I'd run per week, but this would feel too restrictive again.


Good luck with your own New Years Resolutions!