No, I have not taken up reporting my taxes on a quarterly basis. I am, though, thinking it is time to review any of those goals, or if you use the term, or resolutions that were made back in January. Without accountability, goals and resolutions and aspirations are just words – but hopefully ones that you wrote down somewhere.
Goals and dreams are hard work to attain. I know as I have reached a few and watched several friends chase and reach theirs. It is not, as I said back in January, just a matter of setting something to chase after. There are small steps to reach the big goal. There are training runs to do before the big race. There are resumes to write before getting the dream job. There are interviews to attend.
I set a goal, in a post at Motherese in January, to run a race every month but January and February. To that end, as the race in March was a half marathon, I started training. I ran just under 100 miles in January (99.3 miles – if I had been paying closer attention I could have broken 100), 117.2 miles in February – including a race I had not anticipated, and 84.6 miles so far this March. Yes, I have two races under my belt and a third coming up on April 11. I am working my goal and finding additional races throughout the year to fill in my race calendar.
Now, as I did in January, I wasn’t paying attention. I could have gone over the 100 mile mark for the month – which I would like to do but it is not necessary – had I worked it harder. But that is not what has brought me to looking at where I am so far at the quarter into the new year mark. There has to be a better wording for that but it is 6:43 and I have to be out of the house in 45 minutes for a conference. As I have said before, I get these emails and I got one that made me think of reviewing my annual goals and aspirations to see how I was doing.
The things that are hard to bear, are sweet to remember.
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
So I leave you with a question and it is a doosy. How are you doing on whatever resolutions or goals you set for the year 2010?
Nicki's Nook 
Nicki – Great reminder to check in on ourselves. I am actually doing pretty well with my goals. My blog has facilitated good success with 4 of the 5 – meeting new people, challenging my world view, eating more produce, and reading more nonfiction. My 5th goal is to travel and we do have two trips scheduled. We just haven’t taken them yet.
In retrospect I wonder if I should have made them more black and white. Such as “read 10 nonfiction books” instead of just “read more nonfiction.” Oh well, I’m making progress and I think that’s what really counts.
Congrats on all your running. I have shin splints just thinking about it! 🙂
If you want to be accountable on a goal, you need to be concrete. Maybe accountability is not what you want, though, Gale. It is a personal thing.
Thanks, on the running. I truly have grown to love it.
I was just thinking about my Lent Resolutions, since Easter is a mere 10 days away. I committed to take a walk every day and take my vitamins every day. Nothing grand or earth-shaking, but two little steps to make me feel better.
Surprisingly, I’m doing better on the walk than the vitamins. I have stuck to my “walk every day” goal but have not been religious (ha ha , pun) with the vitamins.
Also surprisingly, it’s been harder to keep these resolutions on the weekends.
LOL! Good job on the walk, Eva. I find it difficult to remember to take my allergy pills which I started March 1. You would think, as they do help me feel better and actually breathe in the spring, I would remember. Last night, I was laying in bed when I realized I hadn’t taken it yet. Had to get up, half asleep, and down one.
new years resolutions are bullshit. every day is a chance to enact your goals, change them, pledge to yourself and get goin. Also, if it takes a once a year event to change a bad behavior then I’m not trying hard enough.
I think, to some extent, you are right, Ben. I don’t make new year’s resolutions. I do have a goal for this year, though, to run a race every month.
You may enjoy reading http://jassnight.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/it-takes-a-state-of-mind-not-a-place-in-time/ from a friend of mine. More to your slant, would be my guess.
was just thinkin that could sound harsh – but its positive in my mind. know what i mean? calenders dont make sense to me. every day is how i see it. gonna check out the link
Harsh? You? Nah! It did flag the email notification with hot peppers in my inbox. I couldn’t figure out what I had said that caused someone to make hot peppers appear. 🙂
My progress stinks thus far, but you already knew that. Back at it again, slow and steady, I guess.
Your progress was going good until – as I always say – life got in the way. You will pick it back up and your muscles will respond. You’ll be fine.
I’ve been accused of being queen of loopholes. I wrote a post about redesigning resolutions and that’s what I do. Each month and each season, because I can’t get on board with a year-long anything, I challenge myself to do at least one thing and stick to it and so far so good. For example, for Lent, I hadn’t given anything up since, oh, high school! But I told Fr. Michael I’d give up wine. At the time I thought it was a brilliant item on his list. But, and I’m not a big drinker, I struggle with it because I think about it all the damn time when I have a meal. Serves me right, doesn’t it? And maybe that’s the point of giving something up for Lent.
Thanks for keeping us honest, Nicki.
Good for you giving up wine for Lent. I have found we want things more that we tend to give up or deprive ourselves of, whether we would normally want these things or not.
Hi Nicki,
I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year, but, like Eva, I did make some Lenten promises. Thanks for the reminder to revisit them while I still have a few days of Lent left!
And may I just say how impressed I am by your commitment to running – especially given this snowy winter? (By the way, we woke up to two inches this morning – perfect, now that the spring buds just poked through.)
Thanks, Kristen. I am loving running, regardless of the weather. I actually, after those few warm days we have had, think I enjoy running more in the cold than in the heat. I say that but I was cursing to myself today as it was cold and I did just under 11 miles. Please keep the snow.
I didn’t make any specific resolutions, just general temperament ones. As in, don’t worry so much. And be positive, optimistic, etc. I have to say, I thought the year would start out on a better note than it did, but I’m still hoping that things improve where they need to. The kids are healthy, we’re a happy family, and that is all good. If we could smooth out a few stressful unavoidable realities of adult living, I’d be much more calm. Thanks for the reminder to check in, though!
I sometimes think that when we make those general temperament goals, we almost predict a not so great start. By saying we want to be better, we are admitting we are not where we want to be. And, while that may or may not be true, it sort of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that things have to be “not so good” to get better. Does that even make sense?