February Resolutions

Because New Years Resolutions never work for me…

It seems that every year we make a few resolutions for the new year on January 1. I don’t know about you, but they never seem to work out for me. Like the “working out” resolution. So rather then to make a dozen resolutions that I won’t keep, I decided on a new plan for 2016 – The Ten Monthly Resolutions, starting with February.

January has too much happening for a resolution to stick, plus it sounds too much like a New Years Resolution to me, so let’s just forget January completely. And December is too chaotic, with the holidays and all, so let’s just plan to cut that one out too. So we are left with February through November, ten easy months with a resolution for each. My mother used to say, “One day at a time” so in that spirit, “One month at a time.”

This is also a very scientific strategy since many of our resolutions involve breaking old habits and/or making new habits. Science tells us that it takes about three weeks to break an old habit and substitute it with a new one. Perfect!

So what will my February Resolution be? There are so many from which to choose…but I think starting out simple would work best for me. So, the “working out” resolution is always a tried-and-true concept, but I think I will wait on that one and substitute one that will keep me inside (the weather) and time-flexible. Ultimately, it should be something that I like to do so procrastination and rationalization won’t set in.

“Be it resolved that in February of 2016, I will practice and play my guitars and piano at least four times a week instead of watching some rerun on TV.”

12-string_acoustic_guitar That’s it! I have a nice Casio keyboard, a six string acoustic guitar and a twelve string acoustic guitar, along with a solid-body electric guitar. I can play all of them, but just can’t seem to find the time to enjoy them. In February, I will find the time to do that, then continue enjoying them (and getting better at playing them) for the rest of the year. (Maybe by Christmas 2016 the family can sit in the living room and sing Christmas songs to the piano! That would be great!)