RESOLUTIONS FOCUS ON WEAKNESS; ACTIONS ARE STRENGTH
Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019
I know I’ll be vulnerable and weak – I know those shortcomings well.
Instead, this year, I am focused on my strengths.
I won’t be perfect in every aspect of my plan, but I’ll not give up or give in easily, because I’ll be too consumed by building strength.
Predictions determine nothing much of value to any of us.
Decisions on the other hand, our own, are the only thing of true of lasting value.
By that, I don’t mean ‘resolutions to be broken before the end of January’, but rather, decisions paired with actions. That makes change happen – like a pebble ripping a pond or a butterfly flapping its wings half-way round the world – real difference for someone, to someone, for a cause, to solve a problem, to make a difference.
The end of any month, year, and decade – confluence of which happens once every ten years is just another day, unless viewed as significant time for reflection, for decision, for action, or some other result flowing from all that culminating.
We all do this, don’t we?
We come to some endpoint, starting point, or turning point – pausing before moving on, turning in some new direction, or carry along as if nothing ever changes.
Change is choice, chance, or sideline-sitting – change happens whether we participate or not, but doesn’t logic suggest our abstention impacts the result too? Active or passive, we are part of the change, impacted by change, supported or destroyed by change.
My thinking is that participating is the only meaningful path to a relevant life, and if we aren’t living a consistently relevant life, what’s the point?
We could do this, any of us can, any day of the year – it could be June 6th or any other of 365 options – but then we’d be standing alone in our moment of decision, standing up and speaking out when everyone else is silent.
But there is safety in numbers; anyone’s New Year’s resolutions are lost and quickly forgotten by the cacophony of resolutions filling airwaves, filling newspaper pages – lost among pundits and talking heads predicting what everything from popular culture to stock markets will do, forecasting which sports teams and tyrannical dictators will vanquish their foes.
Still, nobody knows what will be seen as the most important thing next year. And really, will those most critical things be any more valuable that would have been prior knowledge of the most momentous events in business, politics, culture, or sport this last year?
Knowing something in advance is, at best, a calculation by an expert of what is most likely to happen – except the experts and economists are rarely right. They might be close, they might adequately identify a significant trend a few minutes ahead of someone else, but in this age/era of instant, ubiquitous information, who knows anything about the future better than anyone else?
It’s a bit like asking an intelligence service of any country to predict who will win a particular basketball game, or asking a sports writer to tell us about the next breakthrough in computer science, medicine, or any other pursuit which might move the needle…
And why do we want to know?
Does a prediction impact how we’ll live our life, transform our business, or plan a vacation?
I predict poorly. Experience has taught me that – so I try to stay out of the prediction business at work and at home. Like weathermen, economists, and gurus in every field – I can, at best, predict the continuation of a trend I’m watching, or the ending of a phase which seems to be diminishing.
In terms of humans and how they live, if we were zoo animals, what would our keepers (or Dr. Maslow) say? Would they predict our habits, behaviors, and needs?
It is predictable that we will resolve things which simply dissolve within days or weeks; those who prey upon our weaknesses, and those who herd us in the marketplace as domesticated animals, will milk our time and wallets – it will be business as usual for gyms, grocers, diet product marketers, and head-doctors.
What if, instead of letting exploitation of our weaknesses be someone’s business model – we focused on our strength?
What are you strong at?
What are your strengths?
Whatever you are best at, do more of that.
Whatever are you passionately driven by, do more of that.
Whatever you are made peaceful and serene by, do more of that.
Reader feedback:
Hi Mark, Hope life is being good to you. Getting all the things that bring you joy every day. I have renewed my passion for water. I am at the pool 5/7. Love doing the water workouts. Walking my puppy who is now a year old. Making it through life being present. No BHAGs for me. Love and Peace Mark, DB, Vancouver, BC
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