If you’re like me, you’re getting pressure to list your New Year’s Resolutions. My advice: Resist. For as long as possible. Then, if you must set a healthful plan for 2014, choose the vocabulary that is most likely to offer an escape hatch.
First rule: Don’t call it resolution. A resolution is defined as “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” This doesn’t leave you much wiggle room. If you make a resolution, you can pretty much count on being a failure within weeks.
You should also avoid using commitment. A commitment is “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity.” Not much opportunity there to shirk. If you make New Year’s Commitments, I’m afraid that you’ll be obligated to carry them out — or suffer the self-esteem consequences.
How about a New Year’s Target? That certainly lowers the bar. A target is “a person, object, or place selected as the aim of an attack.” Making something a target doesn’t require action to actually hit the target. But if I’m honest, it implies that I will try.
Can we get even vaguer? How about New Year’s Intentions? An intention is “an aim.” I may aim to do something, but aims go awry. And unlike with a resolution, commitment, pledge or promise, our integrity is intact even if we fail to carry out an intention. Yes, we intended to lose 20 pounds. Oops, it didn’t happen. We intend to try again.
If even an intention seems confining, allow me to offer the ultimate in unencumbered goal-setting: A New Year’s Notion. A notion is “an impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind.” I have an impulse toward bettering myself, a desire to be a healthy, wise, contributing member of society. How whimsical!