My Yearly Themes
December 4th, 2019
The classic idea of a “New Year’s Resolution” is inherently flawed. Too many fleeting ideas coupled with metric-based goals leave you striving to meet an arbitrary quota and sometimes nothing else. Shouldn’t a well-constructed resolution work to augment your thought process and change the way you make decisions? Rewiring your brain is no simple task and is definitely not something that happens fast. That is why I will be putting considerable time into forming my upcoming year around three themes that have been bubbling inside my head and are ready to come out. These themes are comprised of actionable decision-making guidelines to use when encountering specific situations or thought-patterns, with the end goal of actually changing the way I think. No numbers or quotas – just principles on how to act.
Let's break them down:
1. Year of Self
2. Year of Opinion Stating
3. Year of Action
The ‘Year of Self’ is focused completely around listening to my brain – spending time hearing what my inner voice is telling me and following it. This means doing what I want with my time and taking the reins on where I put my effort. My brain space will be spent on either a) learning new skills and/or b) meeting new people and creating connections. I have found myself feeling the most fulfilled when I allocate my time based on those two ideas, so using it as my foundation feels right. The past three months of my life have been a test case for this type of living and the benefits are too massive to ignore. My attitude towards prioritizing my thoughts and actions will be reverential. Holding steady to self-commitment will take precedence over being at the whim of someone/something that does not serve my values.
The ‘Year of Opinion Stating’ is about letting my opinions go free. I have found myself holding back thoughts and avoiding taking stances on topics by asking superfluous follow-up questions or changing the subject. Instead, now is the time to take up the space that I am allowed to take by stating what I think as long as it is considered, thoughtful, and non-lethal. When in conversation, I will listen, think, and say. Sitting in the loop of listening and thinking without saying has become too passive and too easy to sink into.
The ’Year of Action’ stems from both previous ideas; saying what you think is only the first step, the next step is doing something about it. This theme will push me out of my comfort zone and force me to actively create. I have been over-thinking (quite literally) everything. Over-thinking has made it easy for me to talk myself out of almost any scenario and I am learning that if you talk yourself out of everything, what are you actually doing? Having the mindset of taking action on my thoughts will help me transition my ideas from pen and paper to the real world. For me, bridging that gap has been my biggest struggle and I am ready to tackle it head-on. Less frivolous musing and more useful doing.
I am writing this for two reasons: to remind myself of these principles when I stray from my path and to encourage my friends to think about their upcoming years. Deep introspective reflection has played a pivotal role in my journey of becoming who I am and who I want to be, so why stop now? If you’re not convinced, ponder on this quote from one of the best books I have read all year:
“Who are you and how do you become that person?” -Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout”