I’ve seen “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” more times than I can remember. It’s a movie full of great moments and memorable quotes. One of my favorite parts is near the end, right when Frodo and Sam cross into Mordor and get their first look at what an improbable task it will be for the two of them to make their way across to Mount Doom unseen. Frodo says as much, sounding utterly defeated before even taking a first step. But Sam, always reliable and sensible, encourages him to press on by simply saying, “Let’s just make it down the hill for starters.” I see a lot of wisdom in that. Who among us has never started a task that seemed to be insurmountable at the very beginning? By setting a much smaller, more reasonable and easily attainable goal, Sam was getting things started in the right direction. Any time I’ve accomplished something that I considered meaningful, the process started much like that -- slow and steady, one baby step at a time, just getting down that hill at first and then deciding what would come next.
This is a theme I’ve been reflecting on during the past few days. The whole New Year’s Eve thing has always been more contemplative than celebratory for me (I know, I know; try to contain your surprise). The start of a new year is a natural time to pause and think about what is or isn’t working in your life, or what has or hasn’t changed since the last time you switched out a calendar. For a lot of people this existential pause predictably leads to a list of New Year’s resolutions. And just as predictably most of those resolutions fall apart before the end of January.
Wanting to make changes or improvements is a noble and worthwhile pursuit, but I think a lot of people get caught up in looking at all of Mordor from the top of the hill, and are overwhelmed by the magnitude (Pop Pop!) of the undertaking they’ve just assigned themselves. Resolutions are usually less about reaching goals than they are about redefining life, which I think is why they so commonly fail. Habits are hard to break, and even harder to intentionally establish. Any resolution worth making wouldn’t be the kind of thing that someone would do for just one year and give up on when December 31st rolled around. A resolution usually becomes too much to think about or manage, and quietly fades away to join the other former resolutions that didn’t work out the way they were intended.
I’ve made resolutions in the past and almost always they’ve eventually come apart at the seams for me. But my chronic overthinking has taught me a few important things about myself. First of all, I know I NEED some kind of a goal. I’m not good at sitting back and relaxing and just letting life happen as it will. I need forward motion. I need purpose -- big or small, significant or not. And when I don’t have it... well, it’s not pretty. So a New Year’s resolution would seem like a natural direction to take, wouldn’t it? But why set myself up for a goal that has little chance of succeeding? Which brings us to Thing I’ve Learned About Myself #2: With the right combination of time and accountability, I know I’m able achieve nearly any goal I put my mind to. I won’t go into a list of victory laps since this post is far too self-indulgent already, but I will point out that I’m a NaNoWriMo winner five times over now -- five different book-length manuscripts written in five different months. And reaching that goal got me thinking: Why does a resolution need to last a whole year? Why not just set it for a month? What if instead of resolving to make some kind of lifelong change as of January first, the goal was just to try and build up a little momentum? One month is a long enough time to make it worth the effort, and also a short enough time to make the goal attainable. Once the month is over, then you’re off the hook about whether or not you want to continue. Maybe the momentum is there and you want to see how much further it can carry you. Or maybe it felt forced all along and became something that doesn’t fit. At least after a month you should know if that goal is one you want to keep chasing.
So this year instead of making any grand New Year’s resolutions, my plan is to make monthly resolutions. Speaking as someone with experience in the matter, you really would be surprised to discover what you can accomplish in one month’s time if you really set your mind to it. But a big key to that success for me is accountability. It’s fair to say I have the attention span of a goldfish, so the best way for me to get anything significant accomplished is if I have to answer to someone for it. So here’s the plan: As I go through this series of monthly resolutions throughout 2013, I’ll add a Summer Vacation post at the end of each month to report on how things went. I won’t say what the goals are at the beginning -- that much I’ll keep to myself while I’m working on them. And I don’t think I’ll ask for any suggestions about things to try; it’s kind of scary to think about what other people might tell me I need to fix. But if I have to answer to the three people who read this at the end of each month, I think that will provide me with the necessary motivation. Time will tell.
Sitting here hours away from 2013 beginning, I’m wondering how different life could be in a year if I actually reach twelve write-a-book-in-a-month-sized goals. Since I don’t even know what all of those goals will be yet, it really has me curious to find out.
