New Year's Resolutions...?

I'm starting early this year. I'm hypothesizing that the reason so many New Year's resolutions fail, is the herd mentality. We all start out with great intentions on January 1st to change our lives for the better. But one or two weeks later, 99% of us have gone back to life as usual, thinking "Oh well, it's not as if anyone else followed their resolutions either."

This year, I'm trying something different. I must be going through my quarter-life-crisis. I'm too young to be having a mid-life one just yet and just on the edge of being too old for a quarter-life-crisis, so I might as well go ahead and get it over with. Gone are the starry eyed theories of business school that explain how things "should be" in the corporate world, replaced by the political, kiss-my-ass reality that actually exists.

Early on I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and kicking myself now and then I can still remember answering "Owning my own business", when I was asked what my career goals were in an interview at IBM. As such, I've really enjoyed working for smaller companies where I was able to get an understanding of the many different issues involved in setting up and running a small company. Finally I have the chance to fulfill these dreams with not only one, but two different opportunities in front of me.

The problem now is deciding which one I'd like to pursue and the fact that I'm married, have a house, mortgage, and child. Given that we've just doubled the size of our house by remodeling, I do need some sort of consistent income I can rely on to at least cover our expenses. Which leads me to my early New Year's Resolutions.

This past month, something in me clicked and I'm suddenly motivated to make my life happen, rather than ending up somewhere I don't want to be 20 years from now. I've been reading a lot of business books, interviews, and magazines. There is definitely a general theme of how dedicated and time-consuming building a business can be, especially if you don't want to fall in the 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first year category. My main inspiration has been Why We Want You to be Rich: Two Men - One Message a book written by Donald Trump and Richard Kiyosaki.

Last Saturday, I downloaded a free 31 day page planner from the Franklin Covey site and started using it. I'm trying to get up earlier, plan my days out the night before, and basically get my butt in gear for sleeping less and FOCUSING while I work (no more checking the blog every 30 minutes for traffic). I haven't met every goal I've set every day, but I'm definitely being more productive while I'm working, staying in the moment when I'm playing with my son, and getting more done in general.

They say it takes 30 days for a habit to form and with that in mind, I'm starting early this year. I'm giving myself a 16 day head start. If I make it to January 1st, I'll be more than halfway to forming a more purposeful life and my dream of one day owning my own business.

So what are your resolutions? Could you benefit from starting them a little early?

Comments

Dr. Bill Emener said…
Hi Kat,
I applaud you for starting your New Years resolution early, and wish you all success with it! (And I suspect you will be successful with it. Look at your life – you live a life of successfulness.) Take a peek at page 9 of my book, "Mom and Dad’s Pearls of Wisdom," and see what my Dad said when he started running his own business. Indeed something to ponder.
I haven’t started any New Years resolutions, but I have started making two lists – one is of things I want to start doing and one is of things I want to stop doing. My plan is to then narrow down each list and by December 31st end up with two. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Bill
Unknown said…
Well thanks for the compliment already, but I've got a long way to go to get to where I'd like to be. I've actually read that page about running a business and your book, and already showed it to other people, pretty good piece of wisdom.

I'll look forward to your list, which I'm sure will turn up as a blog post in one way or another.
Anonymous said…
I'm also sure you will be successful.
I tend to not make New Years Resolutions. I plan my goals regularly. And I'm always working on improving something..
Anonymous said…
Just popping back in to wish you a Merry Christmas. Although reading this probably doesn't fit into that schedule,ha,ha..
Unknown said…
Merry Christmas has been slightly derailed by Mom, Dad, and Baby becoming quite ill, but hey, at least if forces us to relax.
Anonymous said…
Wishing you a Happy New Year..