My resolution this year is to stop seeing completely attainable goals as unattainable when there is no reason for them to be.
To clear some of the dust out of the idea, let's begin with resolutions. Folly ideas, I find them, that we hold in our mind for about a month or two and then are rid of until the next New Year's. The most redeeming thing about them is the ceremony of sharing them with loved ones, which is actually a function meant to keep us accountable but turns out to be a sign of good faith, that we all believe that we are improving together. What a nice tradition, I say, that we share our group deception rather than accept truth. One specific resolution written on a paper will not change your habits. Only real determination will.
That being said, I do believe in the determination to change things that we don't approve of about ourselves. Truly successful people are self-reflective. That quality is not to be undermined. Hoping to embody this myself, I have been thinking more and more about my thinking. I have a tendency to think of things that I hope to do someday, like writing a novel about a desert land or traveling to the Dead Sea. I spend my time marinating on the specifics of these dreams, planning meticulously, all the while living my day-to-day life, altogether independent of them.
We all have goals like this—the far-off kind. The far-off kind are a specific breed of intention. Nasty buggers, they keep us wishing without any actual action, leaving us upset when we do not achieve them, even though (and here's the rub) we never actually tried to achieve them. They are the kind that we lament in our twilight years, as token examples of our failures. Absolutely hypocritical, I find them.
I think that truly successful people are those who hold their far-off kind with particular immediacy. That every day they wake up with the same intent to buy their own house as they have to get their first cup of coffee and make it to work on time. While this might sound unattainable... Fair enough, I guess it very well could be unattainable. I am of the particular proclivity to ignore this reasonable assumption in favor of another: that the most remarkable people are those with a tenable optimism when it comes to their own capabilities. As all of those cheesy inspirational ad campaigns would like us to believe: those who are crazy enough to think that they can do something exceptional are the ones who do. Incredible things do happen from time to time, but only to especially hardworking, or especially lucky, people. Oftentimes, incredibly hardworking people also end up being unlucky, which is a difficult lot to be dealt. But I think it's better to be unlucky and hardworking than just unlucky. So come on, people. It's a new arbitrary calendar year. There is no better occasion to become the people we want to be.
Start outlining your book.
Apply for that entry-level position.
Book your flight.
Today is the best day to change, because today is the only time over which we have control. So hey, happy 2016. Good luck with those dreams of yours.
