I have been thinking about how to welcome in this new year. I am not a fan of new year's resolutions. I don't think that making a resolution will effect lasting change. I think goals and intentions are more effective.
A resolution is weak, a commitment is strong.
You only make commitments for things you can control.
You can make a New Year's resolution to lose weight this year, but you can't commit to it.
However, you can make a commitment to running, cycling, and lifting weight three times a week and eating a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day.
Having said that, here are my goals for 2015. Over the course of a year the goals may need to be adjusted. After a year where I ran a grand total of four times, rode my bike outside a total of three times the very first goal I have set may not a realistic goal. So rather than abandoning an unmet resolution, a goal can be adjusted. During the years when I was fortunate enough to be able to run marathons, I always had an A race time goal if everything went perfectly, a B race time goal, all the way to a D race time goal. Over the vastness of running 26.2 miles anything could happen and over the vastness of a year an athletic goal will most likely need some tweaks. Only once in my running years did I ever exceed a yearly mileage goal so while I can commit to this goal, I will need to stay healthy and avoid the injury bugaboo that has derailed me in the past.
So here are my goals that as I begin this year are in my control.
- 2015 miles. This can be done either running, cycling, swimming, walking for a total of 2015 miles. I don't care what the medium I use to accomplish this. Moving forward is the goal.
- Read one book a month and write about it here or publish a review on Amazon.
- Donate platelets fifteen times.
“Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.”
—Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
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