In the run up to New Year’s Day there is the constant talk of the resolutions people will make.  Come mid-January the talk turns to how quickly people gave up on those resolutions.  Last night I listened to a news article about how January became the official start of a new year for those who follow the Gregorian calendar.   One of the next articles was about how people tend to chose to start new goals on the 1st of a year or month, all which makes perfect sense, you have to start somewhere.  

This morning as I brushed my teeth I was thinking on the changes I want for my life and I recognized that I could not ‘start’ today as some of the things on my mental list require preparation.  As I pondered through this, I came to the realization that I have done some preparing, however unintentionally; more on that in other posts I am planning.   

The advantage that the Gregorian calendar and an excessive amount of banked vacation days provides me is four unfettered days before returning to work.  My intent is to use these days to plan and have Monday January 5th be the official kick off.

Planning will include documentation of what the goal and it’s terms are.  As I am firmly believe the quickest way to fail at a goal is to be too rigid, I will build in exemptions and rewards when appropriate.   I also am a listophile, yes it is a made up word but I like it better than ‘an avid list maker’, so having lists to track my progress is a tool for success in my opinion.

For an awareness exercise I went online looking at articles about what goals people are planning to set for 2026.  I suspected that many of my goals would not be that different than then rest of the world.   Interestingly I found a whole category that I had not even considered adding, which speaks volumes to my current isolation situation; improve relationships with family and friends.   In recognition of this I will add a goal of facing up to my isolation with some intensive consideration on how I got here, should I stay here, and if not what changes need to be made.