On the nature of personal change...
Dec. 30th, 2005 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpA few weeks ago, I recall seeing a headline somewhere - it may have been in The Wall Street Journal - to the effect that something like 8 out of 10 people will fail to make important personal lifestyle changes despite very clear and direct evidence that such changes will very nearly certainly prolong their lives. That tidbit joined the rest of the items that bob up and down, like bones in a stew, in what passes for my mind.
Methinks I resemble that remark, um... headline.
In reviewing the resolutions/affirmations/whatever that I adopted in 2002, 2003, and 2004, I notice that I tend to achieve the ones I happen to be good at ("pursue excellence as a wordsmith, interpreter, and translator") and really, really suck at the one's I'm not good at (losing weight, getting control of my financial life, and almost everything else). For example, I notice that I planned to weigh 213 pounds by mid-2004 and 200 pounds by the end of 2004, which implies I weighed about 225 at the start of that year. Well, guess what I weigh now? (Pick a number between 224 and 226.)
Granted, my current weight is an improvement over what it's been earlier this year, and I've been down to 218 several times this year (the last time being in August), but that's not the point. The point is this: I need to wrap my mind around becoming the 2 in 10 that can effect significant personal change in their lives. In my life.
In years past, when the time has come to assess the year, I acutely realize in doing so that it's too late; the year is gone and it's too late to compensate. Sending out late Christmas cards does little to tip the balance of an affirmation to "take an interest in the lives of my neighbors and acquaintances," if you get my drift. So perhaps the most important thing I must do this coming year, regardless of whatever else I resolve to do to improve myself, will be to keep my finger on the pulse of my progress.
The second most important thing, I think, will be to not spend a lot of time and effort evaluating or patting myself on the back for the things I already do. For example, since I perceive a professional need to improve my "work" web site, don't think for a moment the job won't get done, along with the usual translation and interpretation. If nothing else, by this time in my life, I've gotten fairly good at... doing the stuff I'm good at. Whatever I resolve to do must involve areas in my life that require major, systematic improvement.
And now, having clarified matters for myself somewhat, I shall assign myself the task of chewing on this problem for the next night or two, and then come up with a plan.
Cheers...
Methinks I resemble that remark, um... headline.
In reviewing the resolutions/affirmations/whatever that I adopted in 2002, 2003, and 2004, I notice that I tend to achieve the ones I happen to be good at ("pursue excellence as a wordsmith, interpreter, and translator") and really, really suck at the one's I'm not good at (losing weight, getting control of my financial life, and almost everything else). For example, I notice that I planned to weigh 213 pounds by mid-2004 and 200 pounds by the end of 2004, which implies I weighed about 225 at the start of that year. Well, guess what I weigh now? (Pick a number between 224 and 226.)
Granted, my current weight is an improvement over what it's been earlier this year, and I've been down to 218 several times this year (the last time being in August), but that's not the point. The point is this: I need to wrap my mind around becoming the 2 in 10 that can effect significant personal change in their lives. In my life.
In years past, when the time has come to assess the year, I acutely realize in doing so that it's too late; the year is gone and it's too late to compensate. Sending out late Christmas cards does little to tip the balance of an affirmation to "take an interest in the lives of my neighbors and acquaintances," if you get my drift. So perhaps the most important thing I must do this coming year, regardless of whatever else I resolve to do to improve myself, will be to keep my finger on the pulse of my progress.
The second most important thing, I think, will be to not spend a lot of time and effort evaluating or patting myself on the back for the things I already do. For example, since I perceive a professional need to improve my "work" web site, don't think for a moment the job won't get done, along with the usual translation and interpretation. If nothing else, by this time in my life, I've gotten fairly good at... doing the stuff I'm good at. Whatever I resolve to do must involve areas in my life that require major, systematic improvement.
And now, having clarified matters for myself somewhat, I shall assign myself the task of chewing on this problem for the next night or two, and then come up with a plan.
Cheers...
