NSLS Blogs

 Home » Blogs » The Book’s The Thing

The Book’s The Thing

January 2, 2008

Happy 2008

Another year, another opportunity. In turning over the calendar to 2008 it seems all that pristine white space is a new beginning. And it is, in many ways. When the year is new it feels like a good time to start something new, to make a resolution. At this time of year it’s tempting to make all sorts of vows. The problem is, those vows are dratted hard to keep. There’s the rub.

My own theory on why that failure is so common is because of what I call the “fallacy of the miracle of extra hours.” In other words, we resolve to begin all these new things without taking into account what we’re already doing, forgetting the day only contains 24 hours. But with our hopped up new resolve we think we can shoehorn in another few so we can accomplish all these great new things that will so improve our lives, make us better people and bring us more joy than anyone has ever known.

The problem is we overwhelm ourselves with it all. When we’re overwhelmed we tend to fragment, and when we fragment we do everything superficially and nothing with any real quality. Things start falling by the wayside. We feel guilty. Resolutions get tossed aside. We feel MORE guilty. Anxiety sets in, followed closely by depression. We ditch it all, go back to our old ways and feel a hundred times worse for it.

See the problem?

The crux of the matter is, it is possible to change. It’s possible to do all manner of things, and there’s no time like the present to start. But you have to look at things reasonably. Go ahead and dream of the 1,000 things you want to do before you die. Write them out, daydream about them, prioritize them. Then look at your situation. What MUST you do in order to make a living. What do you do that you can’t or won’t give up. What can fall by the wayside and not be missed.

Then do a timeline. Take it out five years, then ten. Twenty, if you’re feeling really comfortable with the idea. Compare your list to the time you have available to add to your current schedule (after you’ve streamlined it to those things that must get accomplished).

Then take a hard look at what’s possible to do. What you can afford, what you currently have vacation time available to do, if it requires travel, or time and money if you don’t have to leave where you are. Hint: free and cheap things are VERY GOOD to start with. There are few things worse than going into an expensive new hobby gung ho, then realizing you have no time or compulsion to carry them through. If there’s a free or cheap version of something, try that first. THEN invest, once you know you have a true interest or need for it.

When you have a rough idea what you’d like to do and where it falls on your priority list, start researching. What do you need in order to do these things? How much money will it take? Keep a journal of what you find. Track important details. Most importantly, set deadlines. Don’t bog yourself down in the research. Decide when you’re going to start, and allow enough flexibility to allow for the unexpected, but set a FIRM final deadline.

Then GO FOR IT.

That’s my own best advice. It’s nothing you didn’t already know, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it, especially at this time of year. Try something new this year, but do it without stress and therefore without regret. Remember you’re still just one person, even if it is a new year, and time does not expand exponentially, much as we may wish it to be so.

I wish you all a 2008 filled with health, hope and new experiences.

posted by Lisa at 11:25 am |

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website