InHaus Blog: Tis the Season for Resolutions and Goal Setting

Last week, I sat with my 7 year old son reviewing his 2016 new year resolutions, surviving a deposition about the definition of a goal vs. a resolution. Why New Years and not Christmas resolutions? The rewards of accomplishing them. What his 2 year old sister's (who can't even talk) resolutions were. His head must have been spinning. However, after several iterations and with some unique phonetic spelling, a small piece of paper hangs above his bed stating:

1. Clean my room

2. Learn to build stuff

3. Learn to ride skate cycle

I only had input on one item, and it wasn't the build stuff like you might think. Barely into the new year, its apparent the building stuff and skate cycle will be accomplished, while his room being clean will still only happen when I force him to do it begrudgingly.

Tis the season for resolutions and goal setting, and although I am delinquent on mine this year, I feel that prioritizing and documenting the stuff we love to do and dream about is even more important than things that we resolve to do because we feel we need to. The reason New Year's resolutions rarely take is because we don't put the real priorities of things we want to do and dream about doing. We put things on there we dread but feel compelled to write, and then are disappointed when we can't stick to them. We need to remember that regardless of if they are resolved to and written down, humans will focus and accomplish what they are passionate about, not just what they are reminded about. As my son continues to work on his skate cycle and ruin our dining room table building stuff with paint, glue, and nails, while completely forgetting about the cleanliness of his room, it reminds me to focus on setting goals that I really WANT to accomplish in 2016, that I can stay passionate about the whole year through, not seeking to force myself to do something I will never truly be passionate about.