The Real Job of New Year’s Resolutions
Does anybody make New Year’s resolutions any more? Did anybody ever make New Year’s resolutions? Did anybody ever seriously intend to keep New Year’s resolutions? Why do we keep hearing about New Year’s resolutions?
I can answer that last question. It is because we keep following the news in the New Year’s season. I like to imagine the News Desk. A place where news is generated on slow news days. Or, for the end of the year, slow news seasons. After all, you need some copy to keep the denture ads separated from the laxative ads. So the News Desk creates news when there are no reporters around to develop stories. You get things like “The Top Ten Resolutions of 2006.”
Does anybody seriously intend to keep New Year’s resolutions? More wandering in the wonderful world of words. We don’t care what just anybody intends. I care what I intend. You care what you intend. We care what certain other people intend. And we don’t care about ever, or 2006. We care about here, now, in this moment.
Remarkably, psychologists can give a reasonably clear and simple answer to the question of what a person intends at the moment. As usual, the answer starts with a question: “What are your plans?” If a person genuinely intends, the person will have concrete and credible plans. If there are no plans, there is no intent. Wishes, maybe, but no intent.
There is a trick about planning. You can’t really plan not to do something. Since resolutions a generally about what is wrong with somebody, they are often about stopping that bad habit. That keeps resolutions safely in the world of words. You can easily talk about stopping a habit.
But try on that image. You are about to do something and suddenly you stop. Freeze frame! This works in movies and videos. In the real world of events, however, things go on, something happens. What do you want to change? What will you do instead? That, of course, is what takes planning. And planning takes effort. Personally, I’ve just resolved to stick to talking about resolutions. Not much effort there. After all, I had to breath, anyway.
I can answer that last question. It is because we keep following the news in the New Year’s season. I like to imagine the News Desk. A place where news is generated on slow news days. Or, for the end of the year, slow news seasons. After all, you need some copy to keep the denture ads separated from the laxative ads. So the News Desk creates news when there are no reporters around to develop stories. You get things like “The Top Ten Resolutions of 2006.”
Does anybody seriously intend to keep New Year’s resolutions? More wandering in the wonderful world of words. We don’t care what just anybody intends. I care what I intend. You care what you intend. We care what certain other people intend. And we don’t care about ever, or 2006. We care about here, now, in this moment.
Remarkably, psychologists can give a reasonably clear and simple answer to the question of what a person intends at the moment. As usual, the answer starts with a question: “What are your plans?” If a person genuinely intends, the person will have concrete and credible plans. If there are no plans, there is no intent. Wishes, maybe, but no intent.
There is a trick about planning. You can’t really plan not to do something. Since resolutions a generally about what is wrong with somebody, they are often about stopping that bad habit. That keeps resolutions safely in the world of words. You can easily talk about stopping a habit.
But try on that image. You are about to do something and suddenly you stop. Freeze frame! This works in movies and videos. In the real world of events, however, things go on, something happens. What do you want to change? What will you do instead? That, of course, is what takes planning. And planning takes effort. Personally, I’ve just resolved to stick to talking about resolutions. Not much effort there. After all, I had to breath, anyway.
posted by Selby Evans at 8:00 PM
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