No New Years Resolutions

I've been out of the New Years resolution business for quite some time. What I mean is I stopped engaging in the practice of making New Years resolutions more than a few years ago. The reason? Because like so many others, it became an empty and pointless tradition. We make resolutions and then proceed to fail to keep them, so what's the point?

In looking forward to the coming year, there are of course things I want to accomplish. There are things I hope to achieve in 2008 to direct the course of my life to a path much more in line with my “authentic life vision”. But I'm not going to make any resolutions about them.

Instead, I've begun working my "plan"; a document I created about four months ago that details certain goals I've set for the next 12 months, and then the next 3 years. I've included certain benchmarks that I want to meet, as well as a more detailed "plan within the plan", detailing the various strategies I intend to use to meet the benchmarks, and then the goals.

What I haven't done quite as well is to complete the necessary tasks that each of the strategies requires on a consistent basis, and that of course, is critical to my overall success. But I understand and recognize the significance and the importance of the smaller tasks, so at least I'm ahead on that score.

I have for many years known that goal achievement requires a plan, but what I hadn't considered until very recently is the importance of having a "living plan". In other words, plans are all fine and well, but "stuff" always happens, and even the best plans don't cover absolutely every contingency.

Envisioning your plan as a living document simply gives you permission to change it. If things don't go according to plan, when there are failures, when unforeseen elements come into play and the plan needs to be slightly altered or requires a major overhaul, a living plan allows for changes. In other words, you don't stop or completely throw away all of your efforts because something within your plan isn't working. You hit a bump in the road...you continue, either along the same path you started, or by way of detour, then moving along a different path, but still ending up at the destination you desire.

What are you committing to this year? What do you wish to change and improve about your life, or what can you change or improve that will allow you to contribute to the lives of others? What's your resolution...er plan?