By now, most of us have made our New Year’s “resolutions”, and most of us have broken them. Sure, we said we were going to go to the gym, like we do every year, and we really meant it this time! But something came up and now we can’t and oh well, there’s always next year. Maybe we gave up the goat a long time ago and realized that hey, arbitrary divisions of time as decided by people way before I was born don’t have to dictate change, especially since most great developments actually occur over a span of several years, and also I never stick to plans anyway so why bother. Metaphysics and realism aside, perhaps 2015 really can be the year we make goals with actual intent to follow through. 

Firstly, the key lies in marginalism. Two thousand and fifteen will have a full three hundred and sixty five days, and we don’t need to fulfill whatever it was that we decided within the first twelfth of them. Perhaps if we promised to go to the gym more often we should decide, instead of hitting the ground running, to ease our way into it. Perhaps we could go to the gym merely three times that first month, and six times that next month, and by December we’ll be sitting pretty as regulars. (That being said, I have no actual idea how one should normally go to the gym. That’s not my resolution for this year, nor has it ever been. Spontaneity tends to be my preferred modus operandi.)

Secondly, simply, is that goals do not always have to yield tangible results, or manifest in such an easily definable way. Perhaps this year we wish to smile more often, or give thanks more often, or spend slightly less time watching Netflix. Perhaps, this year, we want to learn a few new vocabulary words, in English or something else, or spend more time with the Little. It doesn’t have to be grandiose to be a resolution, nor does it have to be public. People are allowed to change in whatever manner we so wish - if, in twenty fifteen, we want to take time to better ourselves, to become more outgoing or studious or strong, that’s fine too.

Rome wasn't built in a day, so the saying goes. (If you really wish to know, it took about 500 years, and the last hundred of those were spent in constant, tumultuous rebellion and revolution.) Any and all change must come gradually, and we shouldn’t give up on something after the first fifteen days simply because we could not immediately get into it, whatever it is. As we head into this new semester with new hopes and new ambitions, it is important to remember, at least, this one thing - little by little, a little becomes a lot.