Postcard #6: Actions, Not Resolutions

December 31. The day that news feeds, tweets timelines and blog notifications fill with retrospectives and resolution promises. Not a bad thing at all. There are very real therapeutic benefits for the people posting like this. Especially, the look back at the old year. The drawback I see is the time and energy spent reflecting on the events of one calendar year, as well as the hours spent today prognosticating on the future and  anticipating the success of personal resolutions.

But this is just a day, like any other. And today is just as good a day as tomorrow to make a change. Or the next. Maybe it was yesterday and you missed starting something new, or stopping yourself from continuing an unwanted habit. Or maybe, during this hour, that lightning bolt strikes and you say to yourself, “No more old ways.” There's always another moment coming. The calendar should not be the driving force on when to make a personal change.

The beginning of the new year is arbitrary. It will arrive on time as scheduled, no matter how much you change. It is neither a help or hindrance to your efforts. If you continue your old patterns, if you stay the course and keep "business as usual," the new year obliges you with the same indifference as if you started a new workout regime or stopped smoking.

My advice: tonight celebrate your achievements. Attempts and failures are just as important as attempts and successes. Celebrate those too. Do this in the arbitrary moment of the eve of the new year, then move on. But, if in the next minute, or the next hour, or in whatever arbitrary moment, you choose to make a change, make that moment the beginning of something new. Don’t resolve to change at midnight or the next day; start changing right then and there. Once you do that, you won't be looking forward to a period of retrospect, celebrating your "new life's eve," you will have already begun the new life.