5 Resolutions for Year Fifty-Two of My Life

Yesterday was my 51st birthday. Below are five resolutions for year 52 of my life. I think of them as compass-like and guiding. I am a steadfast goal setter and this feels like a different exercise.

Goals are specific, measurable and attainable and my five resolutions are more like guideposts. Don’t get me wrong, and I haven’t gone soft. I love a good goal setting, strategy session and that hasn’t changed.

Today, what I’m writing about are some bulwark-like thoughts to help me smooth out my rough edges and strive to make Year Fifty-Two my number one.

The Five Resolutions for My 52nd Year are:

  1. Be Kind – To others and myself, too. With age comes history and the opportunity to reflect. Decisions made, paths chosen, successes, failures and people – these are the threads of the tapestry of my life. I vow to seek kindness and love.
  2. Execute to Completion – Maniacally focus on getting things done. Fully completed and shipped, not 95% and “good enough.” Ideas come easy to me, so I take initiative and start. Often, however, I succumb to the “shiny object syndrome” and miss out on the benefits of full completion. I’m committed to improvement on this. 110%.
  3. Create Instead of Compete – This is abundance thinking, too.  I believe there is enough in this world, and I don’t have to take from someone else to get mine. And vice-versa. Creation obviates competition.
  4. Embrace Discipline – Plans, processes, and systems are a good way to help me succeed with resolution number 2. I wriggle towards freedom from restraint and am learning to find liberty by defined boundaries and structure.
  5. Experience Gratitude in Everything – Following up on Resolution 3, an attitude of gratitude works wonders for me, too. Marcus Aurelius once said, “A man becomes what he thinks about all day long” and I choose to think about gratitude.
    • Be Happy and See the Good – My Father-in-Law is the embodiment of this attitude. I first met Dick LeClaire thirty-five years ago, and I admire how he extols the good in both people and situations.Below is a picture I saw outside the window at a meeting on Saturday. As I think about my resolutions, the saying is apropos:
      Happy People Sign from Sea Island Meeting

      The Happiest people don’t have everything, and they just make the best of everything.

      Thanks for reading my work, please leave comments below and sign-up for my list if you’d like to receive updates when I post new stories. Once upon a time, I wrote about my thinking for 2015…

1 Comment

  1. Greg Sanchez on October 3, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    Excellent resolutions! Inspiring!

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