There are a lot of mixed beliefs about New Year’s resolutions. On one hand, there are reports that say that it’s a good idea to set goals/resolutions for the new year; where there are others that slam the concept and share data about how 50% or more resolutions are abandoned by February. The truth is, both sides are accurate.
Establishing resolutions, goals, intentions for a new year can provide a sense of something positive to work towards and keep in mind. The way you define these ideals is what can make or break the effectiveness of a resolution. For the purpose of this blog, I will be using one of my 2023 ideals which is to blog more (as you can see it was something slightly lacking in 2022 for this website).
For some people, they find it most helpful to create a broad resolution. In the case of blogging, it might be saying “in 2023 I plan to focus more attention and time on my blog”. This resolution does not set any specific timeline or frequency, which for some may be the best as it leaves it open to personal interpretation. By saying “focus more attention and time”, you can define and redefine what that means as the year progresses. However, a more open, broad resolution can also lead to that abandonment mentioned earlier for some.
If you are someone who benefits more from specific, measurable goals then you might want to consider setting a 2023 goal. With the blog in mind, using SMART goal format (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), a goal might be established that says:
“I will write for my blog once a month for the next 12 months, and carve out 2 hours on the 1st of every month to do so. This way I will keep it consistently updated.”
Creating a goal, especially in SMART goal format can help you evaluate the ideals you are setting for yourself in the new year to determine if they make sense for your life. However, the rigidity of a SMART goal can be a bit much for some and can lead to self-blame if the goal is not met or kept up with.
That is where intention setting comes in. Intention setting is the most open of all three ideals but does not make it any less valuable. When you set an intention for the year, you identify a word or phrase that encompasses what you’d like to achieve, but it keeps it open enough that you can interpret it differently throughout the year. With the example of blogging, the intention word and phrase that could be used might be “creation” and/or “write more”. Both of these can include blogging, but also could mean creating other things and writing more than just for a blog.
However you decide to set ideals for 2023, also allow yourself the permission to accept if it does not go according to plan. Life can be very messy and sometimes those messes get in the way of our best laid plans. It is more than okay to need to reevaluate the resolutions/goals/intentions set at the beginning of the year and make adjustments as you go along.
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