Stop The Cycle Of Broken New Year’s Resolutions: How To Finally Achieve Those Life-Changing Goals This Year
On Monday I said goodbye to the new year’s resolution. I’ve concluded that they really are a waste of time, but what else can you do? As I’ve said before, though the new year is bad for making resolutions, you just can’t ignore the feeling of a fresh start and a clean slate that it brings. We humans seem to love it for some reason, so why not take advantage of that energy in more constructive way? In this post I want to start addressing that and look at alternative ways of how to make the most of the new year buzz. Just don’t call it a new year’s resolution!
Sorry, But New Year’s Resolutions Are A Waste Of Time
It’s January and that can mean only one thing. It’s new year’s resolution time again, and because it’s not only a new year but a new decade as well, the enthusiasm is off the charts. Except, it doesn’t seem to really matter what year, decade or century it is (or any other milestone you can think of for that matter). Statistically, the vast majority of new year’s resolutions get broken within a month of making them. A month! Hardly surprising perhaps; it’s easy to make a resolution, so it’s bound to be easy to break them too.
Remember When Christmas Was Fun?
Christmas and the holiday season is meant to be fun, enjoyable and even meaningful, but increasingly people seem to be becoming jaded by it. Whether it is the hassle and expense of buying everyone gifts, presents and cards, the stresses of arranging and preparing all the food, putting up all the decorations and ornaments, or the yearly disappointment of the TV schedule, the Christmas period has lost some of it’s sparkle, don’t you think?
GTD Dictionary: Cranking Widgets
Cranking widgets:
- To stimulate, activate, or produce.
- Something considered typical or representative.
One of the big things that David Allen covered in GTD was the distinction between simple, mindless tasks that required little thought or focus, and those complicated projects where copious amounts of planning and thought are required, and which can send you into a spiral of stress and confusion. Allen described the former as widget cranking – the equivalent of going to work in a factory and doing whatever simple task was required of you as items came down the conveyor belt.
Why I’m No Longer Trying To Prioritize My Tasks
I’m not really liking priorities at the moment. I feel like prioritizing my tasks and projects is causing more trouble than it’s worth. It’s one more layer of complexity between me and just doing it. Don’t get me wrong, prioritizing does have its uses and we all (need to) do it on a very basic level every day. If customers comes through the door, they have to be the priority over that personal phonecall you’re making (just like in those cheesy training videos).
Here’s an idea. All those prioritizing tips and tricks that self-help and business books and blogs go on about (yep, I’ve done it too) are really covering up a fundamental problem – you’ve got too much to do and/or you’ve not got enough time to do it all.