I don’t say “New Year’s Resolutions,” I say “Challenges.”

So, like most people (especially blogging people) I have thought a lot about the new year and what I’m going to do with it. I suppose I’m just getting around to talking about it a little later than most.

I’ve been reading other blogs and about half the people I’ve come across are saying things like, “New Year’s Resolutions are stupid,” and “Why make a resolution if it’s not going to happen and you’ll just beat yourself up with guilt in a few weeks about it?” and “Why give yourself such high expectations on this particular day? It’s setting yourself up for disaster.” And well, they do have a point. New Year’s resolutions are not for everyone.

But on the other hand, the other half of the blogosphere that I’m around have been quite encouraging and inspiring about resolutions for the new year.
I won’t quote anyone, because you’ve heard it all before. Same old stuff, but still inspiring.

My decision has been to continue planning the new year with a few resolutions, or “challenges” as I would prefer to call them.
I think it is good to have a sort of laid out purpose for your year.
Of course, you don’t need a daily planner or anything. You don’t even need a real calendar.

You just need a simple challenge that you can write down on the refrigerator or your door, or the bathroom mirror to remind yourself what you’re doing.

Key word: simple.
Keep it simple.

Don’t set yourself up for failure with something extravagant such as:
“This year I challenge myself to save ALL THE ENDANGERED SPECIES IN THE WORLD.”
Or anything like:
“This year, I am going to fly to Mars in a space ship I build entirely out of recycled materials!”

Not that there’s anything wrong with those goals, if you have the money, time, (technology,) and influence to get them done. If you want to do it, and you can, go for it!
Nothing is impossible, it will just take some time.

But for the ordinary non-superhero/mad scientist inhabiting the earth, you may need to keep a simple challenge for now. Next year you can give yourself a bigger challenge, no worries.

So anyway, my New Year’s Challenges are:

1. Be rich.
2. Contribute less to landfills.
3. Change 1 thing per month (as in getting over fears, starting new habits, ending bad habits, etc)

1. Be rich means that I want to get to the point that I can eat well (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, organically, humanely, eco friendly, etc) all the time, provide for my animal companions in a similar fashion, buy nice things when I want them (like a 1991 Nissan Figaro, a nice camera, etc), and be able to go nice places for holidays and buy my friends gifts when I want, as well as help them out when they need it.

2. To contribute less to landfills, obviously I’m going to have to be more eco friendly with the way I live. I’m already partway there. I recycle. I reuse. I only empty the trashcan once every 5-7 days. My goal is to get to where I’m emptying the trashcan once per month by 31 December 2012. To do this, I will start reusing paper products and burning the rest (distribute the ashes in a field so it will grow nice things), recycle more religiously, and what I can’t recycle, reuse. I will also change the cat litter I use to pine pellets so that I can flush the poop and dump the sawdust out in a field as well. It could even be used (in appropriate amounts) as compost. Oh, and composting more. That’s another big one.

3. And the monthly changes and goals thing… I’m sort of figuring this out one month at a time. This month I’m focusing on getting rid of my nervousness/fear of phone calls. I am taking every opportunity I can to call people. No texting (unless it’s casual), no emails (unless that’s what is best), and no looking for excuses not to call people. I’m thinking my December goal will be to get to the point that I’m living a guilt free existence. More on that later.

So January I am focusing on my online businesses for getting closer to being rich.
I am also starting some freelance babysitting on the side, perhaps some housecleaning.
For the landfills thing, I’m having a goal of emptying the trashcan every 9 days for this month.
And I already told you my goal to change this month is fear of phone calls.

So next month this will all change a little!

Now, my goals are my goals. They’re not yours. You can use them if you want, of course. Feel free! But if you find them too complicated, or too easy, change them!
Just keep it simple for yourself, and write it/them down where you’ll see them every day, perhaps even multiple times a day.
Brainstorm a plan of how you’re going to accomplish part of the challenges each month. Writing it down is preferred so if you get sidetracked or lost, you can refresh yourself with your plan.

Also, no pressure!
If making a resolution/challenge/goal on New Year’s Day makes you feel pressured and stressed, make your goals on the 15th of the month!
Or next month!
Some people like New Year’s Day, though, because it is a concrete day and acts as a sort of beginning.
It can feel very refreshing.
But in truth, it’s just another day, probably a very ordinary one for a lot of you, and there’s no reason it should be treated differently and make you feel stressed out.

So good luck! Have fun! Don’t make it a chore! And keep your focus. :)