From Collins Dictionary:
resolution
noun
1. the act or an instance of resolving
2. the condition or quality of being resolute; firmness or determination
3. something resolved or determined; decision
4. a formal expression of opinion by a meeting, esp one agreed by a vote
5. a judicial decision on some matter; verdict; judgment
6. the act or process of separating something into its constituent parts or elements
Let's ignore the last 3, given I am not a judge, the UN or separating myself into my constituent parts...
It's that time of year when people resolve, commit, and decide what they might work on in the next 12 months. Often people form their New Year Resolutions like goals at work, with the whole "SMART" thing. Last year I decided not to do that, and instead to adopt "themes". I can't quite remember how I set this up (which is the reason for putting it in writing this year !) but the idea was to have something that was ongoing for the whole year.
The downside of "SMART" resolutions is that they tend to be black and white (met, not met) and with a distinct date. Finding tasks to work on that balance across the whole year, and keep you motivated, is quite a challenge.
Whereas an ongoing theme fits with continuous improvement and iteration, and allows the theme to react to a changing situation.
For example, to work on decluttering by getting something sorted every weekend. I think last year I had said it could be either house/garden or horse/field. Later in the year I happened to have time to take a look in my dad's polytunnel (which is where the horses live). It was like a time capsule, as if someone had walked out of it mid-season a few years back and just never gone back. So it was easy to flex my "theme" to include bringing something back from the polytunnel up to the cottage to get disposed of or for my dad to sort out.
I suspect my themes for this year are not that different to last year (if only I could find where I wrote them down !)
- the declutter theme continues, although I'd like to try and hit a couple of areas every weekend i.e. something in the house AND something in the garden. Late in the year I also managed to finally make some progress with a couple of house-related projects (one of which will be done in January).
- looking after myself better. For a whole load of reasons I didn't get much time out on horses in 2017, but also didn't manage to substitute with other things to keep me fit and healthy. I did two charity 5km events (one at a walk due to ice and injury). I need to make the time to exercise on a regular basis (and as part of that, "reclaim" lunchtimes at work !)
- finishing more things than I start. That may sound a logical impossibility or slightly sinister. The reality is that I have a backlog, so by adopting this principle I will reduce the backlog (as well as reduce the clutter). This is also about not taking on more than I can do.
Of course if I was a "proper blogger" then I would relate all of above back to project management, continuous improvement (or development), agile, etc etc ;)
