2011 New Year Resolutions

It's that time of the year again-- the time where we consciously write down our hopes for the future. It's the time when everyone is optimistic, about the changes they will undergo in their lives in order to feel happy and fulfilled. I love the beginning of anything, because I know that in the beginning, everyone is the same-- it is only as time goes on, some people pulls ahead while others fall behind. In the beginning, we all have equal chances of succeeding, so yep, that's why I always have some form of New Year resolutions.

So, for this year 2011, here are my 5 resolutions!

1. Maintain a healthy lifestyle. For the first time ever, my first resolution is not to lose weight! And that's because I am exactly where I want to be at, except even better. To all those who think that making New year resolution is BS, I assure you that they do work and can change lives. So, for 2011, I just want to stay active, eat healthily, be health conscious, exercise and do activities that I like, for example--
2. Run in the Half Marathon 2011 in March. I'd really like to train for it or at least getting in shape for it. As a ex-Varsity cross country member, I am a little bit ashamed that I have never ran anything more than 5 miles!-- and that was 7 years ago (eeeks!!!) I guess it's one of those things-- if you don't strive to keep it (your health level), you will lose it. I certainly do not want to lose my health level, so it's good to go for it. I just need to draw up some sort of a plan to train. Also, I feel like this used to be a goal I had for myself in college but I've never done anything to realize it.
3. Become more OCD--aka detail oriented. Yea, I know, this is a weird resolution and I think so too. But it has come to my attention that I'm too big picture oriented sometimes that I can be forgetful or negligent of the details. Though I don't approve of actual OCD behaviors, like being really picky all the time, I do think that there are benefits of being careful and detail oriented. 
4. Practice delayed gratification. This is also a little bit weird, because I distinctly remembered that my new year resolution in 2005 was to be more spontaneous and allow myself to enjoy the moment. In this past year, I've found myself that I seem to be too spontaneous and in the moment (?) to the point that I have trouble choosing and focusing on more important agendas. I guess this just shows that being the "perfect" human being means having checks and balances--both delaying gratification (focusing on future) and being spontaneous (enjoying the present) are great traits to have, but it's the idea of choosing the right one at the right time.
5. Become more articulated in writing and speech. I've always admired great speakers and writers. The fact that they can express their thoughts in very few sentences and words show their depth of knowledge. I want to do that. I want to be able to make presentations in front of one person or one thousand people and be able to speak clearly and succinctly. I want to be able to write simply but profoundly, in which my writing can change the lives of people who read it.

<FIN>

Whew, that was fast. Not so difficult, right? Since it's just 5. I've found that the optimal number of New year resolutions is 5. Anything more than that, it's really hard to achieve (let alone remember), but 5 is a good number, because you can count them down on your fingers as you go.

I've also found that if you want to "fulfill" your new year resolutions, then you should put down something broad and general, because then you can be the one to set how stringent your performance can be rated. I've heard the argument that one should put down concrete goals-- I agree. But New Year resolution isn't exactly a goal list (at least not how I see it). I think of resolutions as a personal self-help list... stuff you want to work on continuously. Perhaps, that is one reason why so many people lapse on their new year resolution so soon after the new year. It's because the specific goal they make (i.e. go to the gym every day) feels discouraging since they realize how hard it is to achieve that goal. But if you simply have a general resolution, then as time goes on, you can reformulate specific goals to follow weekly and monthly and perhaps you'd actually get somewhere and not quit so soon.

And last but not least--

Note to my blog readers: To my readers, thank you for having an interest in my life! I'm really surprised each day to check my blog stats and find the steady flow of traffic. I know who some of you are but for many of you ghost readers, won't you introduce yourself and lead me a note from time to time?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 2011!!!! WOOOO!!!!