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In the past, these resolutions used to be erratic, and somewhat of a wishlist of things to do. It'd range from learning how to bake a cake [which I never did] to making tie-dye shirts for the family [succesfully made rag cloths] to finishing 'Gone with the Wind' [by skipping a considerable number of pages]. They were often indicative of my wide range of, also somewhat capricious, interests. Over the years though I have managed to narrow, shorten and sharpen my resolutions list. Let's face it I am never going to grind my own lens for a Newtonian telescope; I still think it's quite cool to do it, but have outgrown the need to sort my list by coolness factor. Coming up with the right resolutions these days turns out to be an exercise of prioritization.
I notice I have been fairly successful with going from zero to some minimal achievement. For example, until a couple of years ago I had never meditated. I had set a modest goal of meditating a few times over the year which I achieved. [Let us not detract the success story with details like I started sometime in October and I have meditated only for 10 mins at a strtech]. I don't seem to go from reasonable knowledge to expertise. [I can hear my friends and family chortling - 'that's a character flaw, not a problem of resolutions].
With these two data points, the last couple of years I have been a bit tougher on myself. The resolutions of late require persistent action over a period. Apart from that, I have picked up a new fad of tracking myself obsessively as well. I have spreadsheets that pull all kinds of data from sundry apps and trackers. Good news is I know exactly where I stand with my goals. The bad news is it's not looking that great at the end of two months. Good news is I don't give up that easily. The bad news is I need a lever.
So here's to some success in March.
