I don't do new year's resolutions, as such. I do find the turning of the year to be a really useful break point, a chance to burn away the old -- which I think is more of an act of self-forgiveness and wiping away the debt of aspirations to which you didn't quite measure than anything else -- and to look forward gainfully to the year ahead.
'Resolutions' to me, though, conjures an image of a particular formulation -- some categorical incitement or prohibition to cover the entire year ahead. 'I will eat less meat.' 'I will look after myself better.' 'I'll finally learn about architecture.' Or something.
Others have various ways of improving on this -- the old SMART goals and so forth. Which I do find useful, and have used -- more or less -- in the past. A few years ago, I set myself specific targets like this. Sell a short story, make 50 fiction submissions, etc. This was useful at the time, but it has its own issues.
Last year, I broadened it a little, trying to establish 'goals' which were really articulations of the sources of fulfilment I have -- and want -- in my life. This was actually very powerful and useful generally in understanding what I value, but absolutely no good as functional goals. They were -- and remain, I suppose -- good standards to measure things against, but not something that I could easily move towards.
This year, I'm taking an approach somewhere in the middle. I wanted to avoid:
- Setting goals that I could 'fail out of', either in practice, or just de facto when I realised it was no longer possible in the time remaining. This is demoralising and undermining.
- Setting goals that weren't realistic to accomplish in a year. Yes, not all goals can fit into such a short timespan as a year, but I want, in this case, things that do (even if they are set in reference to longer-term ambitions).
What I've ended up doing is setting intentions for the year, and then translating these into smaller, achievable goals, that are more clearly defined. Crucially, I'm not going to set out a raft of these goals ahead of time -- just the few that are relevant to where I am right now and towards which I can move. When I reach them, I evaluate what's next. If I can't reach them, I have the chance to rethink with it only being a minor setback.
So, rather than a highly specific and longitudinal 'get my bench lift back to 100kg' or a vague 'do more exercise', I've set the intention to 'prioritise my physical and mental wellbeing'. That, in preference to any specific measurement of it, is what I really want -- exercise will just be an important part of it. What that looks like in practice is going to vary throughout the year, depending on external factors, and at how successful I am at moving towards it.
So my first goal for that was simple: do a session of exercise that raises my heart rate. That's it. Doesn't matter what. It's achievable and immediate, and represents an advance from where I was before (not exercising). And I've done it! So now I've looked at what's next, and starting snowballing forward into specific numbers and targets that suit where I'm at right now while also pushing me to make changes to accommodate them.
I've set aside a certain amount of time each week to move towards these intentions and goals. I've only established a small number of them, because I think there's only room for so much, but, on paper, I'm happy with this approach.