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The New Year is already two days old. Everyone has resolutions. I liked Nick Bilton’s the best.  Friends have asked me if I have any new resolutions for 2012. I don’t. Just as I have lost enthusiasm for the New Year’s Eve (the pressure to do something…. Oy Vy!) for past four years, I have made no resolutions. Resolutions are hard and often fail. In order for resolutions to work, experts say that one needs to rewire one’s thinking. And that is much harder that we all think and need some near calamity to actually change things.

That is why I set simple goals to improve my life in incremental fashion. These changes are relatively small and easy to implement. For instance, I set a simple goal – eight out of my ten meals are going to be meatless. So far so good.

So what are the goals I have set for 2012? Nothing overtly complicated. I typically walk about 1.5 miles every day and I want to increase that to 3 miles – either by walking on the treadmill every day or simply walking over to my favorite coffee shop every morning. My second goal takes much less effort. I want to read more and since I cannot create time to read more, I am going to steal time from another activity – watching videos.  In order to achieve that goal, I have banned all screens from my bedroom: television, laptop and iPad. (Not the iPhone, for now.) The combination of those two goals would help me sleep longer – about 6 hours from current 4.5 hours. That’s it.

Have an awesome 2012 everyone.

PS: The photo above is Editors Choice on 500px and is by Simone Ciliberti, an Italian photographer.

Om Malik

Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. More....

19 thoughts on “No Resolutions”

  2. Hi OM
    HPNY!
    Determining your goal is the first step and must be followed by a plan of small steps that will help you attain your goal. I used to say that my goal was continuous improvement but I like the way you stated it “I set simple goals to improve my life in incremental fashion.”
    Diana

  5. Love this Om! This is the first year I have not had a ‘ritual’ to mark New Year’s Day…instead I have committed to taking better care of myself period. Happy New Year!

    1. +1 to that and good luck to you @marylonergan. Glad to think more people are thinking along these lines.

  6. I gave up resolutions last year. Goals are much easier to keep and track how well you are doing. I also gave up on the pressure to do something for NYE.

  7. Surviving on 4.5 hours of sleep has got to be hard Om. It is great to hear that you are making small adjustments that have a larger overall upside – another 90 minutes of sleep.

    Have a great 2012.

    1. Manoj

      Getting more sleep is hard. I think it is one of the more difficult things I have had to do in my life.

  9. New sleep schedule and decision around bedroom gadgets, sounds to me an excellent strategy for dealing with information overload.

    Not quite there myself, but have put black tape over LED’s in bedroom. No more pesky lights making bedroom looking like an all year round Christmas tree.

  10. The incremental approach sounds good.

    I rarely have resolutions – at least at the New Year – but the few I’ve had have been large changes where I wanted to make a public statement to friends that might make more more accountable and actually carry through.

    Last year I lost a lot of weight through exercise and less eating. This year I intend to keep it off and improve the quality of my cooking. Not having the weight return is physiologically difficult and a lot of evidence suggests you have to be vigilant for at least a decade, so this year’s challenge is probably more difficult.

    I’ve been a lacto-vegetarian for over 25 years (I have about a quart of dairy – mostly yogurt – a week). If you ever need tips or encouragement drop a line.

    Staying screen free is important. The first director I had believed everyone in his lab needed 3 or 4 hours of thinking time every day if they were to be productive. You were allowed to control your interruptions during this period. All of the phones were killed but you could walk to a different part of the building if you wanted to use one. I still cut myself off every day and consider it essential.

  11. Hey Om!
    Seems you have big challenges ahead, but nothing impossible.
    You should consider visiting Brazil also in 2012. This could be an easy one!
    Have a nice 2012.

  12. Resolutions are silly – they last a few days.

    Changing habits are hard. And you know that. And you are doing an awesome job of laying out there the habits you are going to change. Kudos my friend.

    Do you have a Fitbit? If not, tell me and I’ll get you one. It’ll help with both the walking and the sleeping – at least the measuring / feedback loop.

    Hope to see you at least once in 2012.

    1. Brad

      A lot of it is talking to folks like you that has helped me handle te changes better/smarter 😉

      Hope I lose as much weight in 2012 as u did in 2011

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