Mark's Musings: New Year's Resolutions

Written By Mark Rockwell,
President of Rockton Software

My most lasting resolution, which I made so long ago, is to never make New Year’s Resolutions. There is something about a calendar prompting people to suddenly change that I find strange.  Almost nowhere in life do people make changes based on time; rather, they make it when new information presents itself.  For instance, if my car breaks down today, I get it into the shop right away.  I don’t know why I’d wait until next January to fix it.  If someone finds a new friend or romance, do they put off growing that relationship until the calendar turns a page?

Most New Year’s Resolutions are in the form of making ourselves better people: working out, eating right, stopping smoking, or improving a skill.  But if you’re aware that you want to change something, because the awareness occurred sometime recently, why would you put it off?  Why not start now?  The rest of life’s choices for change present themselves all the time; they never care where an arbitrary date in time lands.

I’m a huge fan of making change at the time change needs to happen.  And some of those battles—like being less judgmental, being honest and caring, and sharing the good life—are resolutions I make almost daily.  Resolutions need not be an infinite commitment, but rather a conscious choice to move in a new direction, falling forward when we stumble rather than downward.  Real change takes time, practice, patience, and learning.  Regardless of what day it is, what do you want to change today?

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