Resolutions provide structure for goals

A week late, I just made my New Year’s resolutions, which Google tells me are simply “firm decision(s) to do or not do something.”

This time of year when columnists write about resolutions, it’s usually to make humorous observations about the folly of making them and the improbability of sticking to them. Or it’s a list of easily attainable anti-resolution goals, like endeavoring to eat 12 pounds of chocolate before Dec. 31.

Even though some estimates put the resolution-making portion of the American population at 44 percent, they still get a bad rap.

At best, resolutions are treated as trite. At worst, they’re considered self-absorbed delusions of grandeur.

Resolutions of gaining, losing, quitting or starting with an eye on becoming healthier, wealthier, wiser or nicer are endlessly mocked by the unresolved as doomed-to-fail pledges that lack conviction or sincerity.

It’s irritating. I love resolutions. In fact, I often make them twice a year.

Each January I usually join the reported 44 percent of resolution-makers who make a list of ambitious objectives. Then I do it again in September, a back-to-school and birthday month that always feels like a new beginning.

As a teen, I used to make resolutions on New Year’s Eve during the long evening of alone time after I’d tucked the toddlers I was babysitting into bed. It was the most lucrative night of the year, and I didn’t mind missing parties when I had the chance to make some easy money while daydreaming into a blank notebook.

What did I want to achieve? Who did I want to become? How would I make that happen?

Though I’m no longer alone on New Year’s Eve, during the first days of January I still like to fill blank pages with dreams, listing the goals I’d like to achieve and the priorities I’d like to honor.

Some are ambitious ideas that require significant sacrifice and a bit of luck to attain. Some are the next step in an ongoing effort. Some are a course correction for an area of life I’d like to change.

After covering vague categories like physical, professional and personal, I list all the tasks, habits and hurdles I need to consider to have a hope of success in each area. Depending on how detailed I get it can be an exhaustive practice.

In the end I have a lot more than a simple resolution that will be discarded by Valentine’s Day. I have a map of the path I want to follow to reach a future I’ve envisioned. Creating this gives me a sense of purpose and hope as well as a little bit of structure to support and reach my goals.

But it’s a private process I rarely share. Resolution bashing has grown too popular.

Nobody needs that kind of negativity. It’s hard enough to achieve a goal without someone undermining your efforts with predictions of doom and failure.

But this year I’m soliciting reader suggestions for one of my resolutions, to try something new. I don’t have a clearer path than that, but I’m a little bit bored. As long as it’s safe and doesn’t take a big time or financial commitment, I’m game to try some reasonable recommendations, whether that’s tasting your favorite food, participating in your favorite activity or reading your favorite book. Email me your ideas and if I follow through, I’ll write about it here.

Meanwhile, to the rest of the 44 percent who set goals this time of year, I wish you well. Go get ’em. Whether you reach your goals in a year’s span isn’t nearly as important as making the resolution in the first place. That’s one step closer than you’d be without it.