Ordering two cups of coffee, my wife and I sat down for one of our most cherished rituals of the year.
We had our favorite notebooks, with the pens that made us feel powerful when we wrote across the page, and together we wrote our New Year’s Resolutions.
Yesterday’s Annual Review helped me calibrate myself for the year I want to have, and these resolutions are the habits I will use to become the person I want to be.
2016 New Year’s Resolutions
- 6 Am Hour of Power – whether it’s a Yoga class, a Qi Gong ritual at home, a P90X routine, or a guided meditation with the new headphones I got for Christmas, I’m spending 6-7:00 AM every morning doing something to balance myself energetically.
- One Hundred Dollars for One Hundred Days – if I can do this for 100 days in a row, I’m going to spend $100 lavishly on myself as a reward. I’ll be using Nathan Barry’s Commit app to track it.
- Juice Cleanse and Paleo – At some point this year, I want to do both of these nutritional practices. Could be short, could be long, just needs to be.
- Summer Parkour Body – When the time is right, I’m going back into serious athletic training, to regain the elite level of fitness that older gents require in order to do Parkour.
- Save 3 Months of Expenses – After the holidays, I have zero dollars in savings, which is what happens when your expenses are more than your income. I’ve laid out the steps to climb out of poverty, and getting 3 months of expenses under the mattress is the next one for me to take.
- Be More Frugal at the Grocery Store – the one place that I know I can cut down my expenses is when I’m shopping for food.
- Send Thank-You Cards Every Week – I was sporadic with this habit last year, and expressing gratitude is such an important emotion to cultivate, I am resolving to elevate this sometime-habit to a diligent habit.
- Think Positively In the Face Of Challenge – Reading The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday was one of the highlights of my last year. Not only did the parkour-like philosophy appeal to me, it was written in the language and context of the classics, my field of study in college. I’ve been slipping into the habit of reacting poorly in the face of adversity, and I know I can do better with my mindset.
- Publish One Good Blog Post a Week – I’ll be retiring my newsletter from weekly to monthly, to make room in my production schedule for more writing time on my new blog, bethebetterdad.com.
- Read 1 Parenting Book / Month – Although I consider myself a very well-read person, I am unfamiliar with a lot of the published work in the field of parenting. For someone who is starting a blog on parenting, reading more is a good idea. (Hey Dads, want to join my book club?)
- Create 3 Evergreen Speeches – My long-term career plans are angled to public speaking, and I really enjoy creating a deck of slides. By having a few presentations prepared on topics I like to talk about, I can start getting in front of people practice more in this medium.
- Bodywork Every Month – My body is getting older, and requires more maintenance. I really should be having weekly bodywork, but I’m going to shoot a little lower, resolve for monthly, and hope for better.
- Find Good Mentors For My Children – They are getting to the age that they need role models they can look up to, outside of their family unit. Someone to whom they could aspire to be – not quite a master for them to apprentice under, but an ongoing tutor-pupil relationship.
I may not keep all of these resolutions, and I’m sure I won’t start all of them until at least my birthday next week. (A man has to party, after all. I’m looking at you, 6 AM Hour of Power.)
This annual ritual of evaluating my habits, invigorating my routine and leaning closer to excellence, has always made this my favorite time of year. I’m excited to meet the person I’m going to be in 366 days.
There is a lot to like here. Mentors for your children outside the family is good, and progressive of you. One thing that helped me long ago was when I read, “You may tell your children to love all types of people, but what diversity is reflected in your friends group?” Aggh. At that time I was living in a super-white middle class town, but realized the value of putting in more effort to widen my circles. My only option there was white people with diverse lifestyles, so those are the people I embraced. In Portland it’s no problem to find varieties across economic standing and physical ability and first languages and skin colour, but I’m glad I started trying before I got here. It’s a great gift for your children. The parenting books… eh, not a fan. Just use your good sense and take or leave the guidance from books, as the case demands. And finally, Thank You notes is such an excellent tool for personal growth! And also for networking.