Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great Hogmanay and are now fully recovered, ready and eager to grab 2010 and the opportunities it offers.

I’ve said before that I don’t like New Year resolutions, I consider them an excuse for failure. However that doesn’t mean ignoring the change of year. It’s still a powerful symbol that we can harness to boost our motivation and personal development.

Even though I don’t do specific “resolutions” I do use the New Year as an opportunity to look back over the recent past and forward to the future. It’s a good time to take stock of where I am and where I want to be – as well as who I want to be.

So although I don’t do “task based” resolutions (eg “go to the gym twice a week”) I do think about more general achievement based plans (eg “live a healthier lifestyle”). At this time I find it more useful to concentrate on the outcome rather than the method.

Of course these objectives need eventually to be translated into actions. So the New Year is also a good time to look at the system(s) I’m using for this (GTD, Eisenhower matrix, Pomodoro, etc) and make sure that a) they meet my needs and b) they’re up to date. Essentially I treat the New Year as a time not for low level resolutions but for a much higher level annual review.

As a wise sage once said: “Look to the future now, it’s only just begun”.

Possibly Related posts:
•New Year Resolutions – An Excuse For Failure?
•Old Year Resolutions