This week’s theme is resolutions and today’s “lecture” will focus on giving your New Year’s resolution a chance of becoming reality and not just becoming another failed idea.
The top three things on many people’s minds today must be, (1) How am I going to pay for what I spent over the holidays, (2) I wish that I didn’t have to go back to work already and (3) I have to stick to my New Year’s resolution. Although I can’t help you with the first two, in order to help you with the last, I must ask you whether your resolution has a well-defined purpose which will lead you to your goal. Without that purpose, you are much more likely to fail. If you say, “I am going to lose weight”, then you must also focus on the purpose – to be able to play with the kids, to reduce my risk of heart disease or diabetes, to be more attractive to another person (see “This Dude’s A Winner“), etc..
Pastor Rick Warren wrote the bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, and it explains his belief in what the five purposes in your life should be. You, too, should have a purpose for your resolution or it simply becomes a vague statement that you may or may not share with others and the resolution itself becomes just another idea that comes and goes.
My New Year’s resolution has to be to make money in order to start recovering from a financially devastating 2007. If it were a cartoon, a quick glimpse at the wheel of life would show that I am just going out the back, crushed and stuck to the wheel, but actually headed up again. I could have been stuck to the road, but like all cartoon characters, I will somehow unstick myself from the wheel and come out on top again.
The purpose of my resolution is to be able to fill my financial buckets. Ultimately I want to follow the plan of Denis Waitley in his article, Overflowing Buckets of Wealth, which I recommend that you read, since the principles can also be applied to other aspects of your life.
If your New Year’s resolution doesn’t have a specific purpose, then create a specific purpose. I was and may still be looking at financial disaster, so my purpose for this year is easy to create and well defined since I don’t have a choice. Many of your resolutions, such as losing weight or quitting smoking are based on the fact that there may be dire consequences if you don’t resolve to change. Those consequences should make creating your purpose so much easier because you, too, may not have a choice.
One thought on “Resolutions Without Purpose”
I agree that having a purpose is an essential ingredient to having a sucessful resolution.
I have always found that small, measurable resolutions work well. My most sucessful resolution so far was the year I vowed not to shop at Wal-mart. There my purpose was to make a statement about how I thought think the institution of “Wal-mart” has devastated local businesses, short-changes workers etc. My purpose was not to deprive a giant corporation of the few measly dollars I would spend there, but rather to raise awareness – which I did (and do)whenever the opportunity presented itself.
This year my resolution is to write 365 thank-you notes in 365 days. My purpose is to gain a deeper sense of appreciation for what I have. I work as a social worker in a homeless shelter and find that despite working with people who struggle for life’s basics, I don’t really FEEL how fortunate I am. I think the daily focus on being thankfully will help me understand all the things I have and all the people who help me out during my day.
Anyway – good luck on your resolution — gaining financial stability can not be overemphasized.
-Wendy