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:
     

     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…