Resolutions 2022

 Malcolm Gladwell coined the 10,000 hour rule. If you are not familiar with said rule let me provide a simple and incomplete explanation because you have google and if you want to know more you can jolly well research it. Gladwell's 10,000 rule states that in order to achieve proficiency in complex skills like playing the violin you need 10,000 hours of intensive practice. 

I like this theory in all of its flaws. It reinforces the idea that," practice makes perfect." As a blanket statement it makes a person believe that through repetition you can naturally improve. In many ways the 10,000 rule could be the policy of a simple minded but focused person. 

It totally disregards the quality of instruction that a person is getting for a skill. I could spend 10,000 hours playing chess with an uneducated and untrained opponent and I will unlikely develop my chess game much at all. I could shoot 10,000 hours of basketball playing against my six year old and it is unlikely that I will be significantly improved if I took on an NBA player 1 on 1. I could spend 10,000 hours practicing archery using poor form and little to no instruction and I will improve much less than I would working with someone who knows what they are doing. 

I got to thinking about my New Year's resolutions for 2022. There are several things I want to accomplish in the coming year. It is an excellent time to be thinking about fresh starts and new ways of doing things. It is a great time to try and build upon my strengths and to shore up my weaknesses. Is a resolution the best way to motivate myself and make that happen?

I need to break my Amazon ordering addiction. I spent way too much money just window shopping Amazon last year.  Some of that shopping has lead to improvements in my life like the 500 sheets of sketch paper or the exercise bike. The deluxe zippered pencil case was a waste of money. Then again so were the stack of new 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons books. I haven't played in a couple of years, and at this point I am buying the books to keep my collection complete more than out of any belief I will actually play the game in the near future. I want to own all of the official releases for one edition of the game. I am not really sure why. Should I set a resolution to follow a budget in my spending? Should I set a resolution to only buy things I have a current need and use for?

I need to keep losing weight and get in better shape. I have found several exercises that I am happy to do daily. I also have everything I need to go for nice hikes and, once it is warmer, for nice paddling adventures in the kayak. Should I set a resolution for exercising adventures? 

Hand in hand with the exercise is my diet. I need to cut out sugar, eliminate bread, pasta, and sweets. I want to get my portioning under control. I want to reduce fatty foods particularly red meat. I do not want to count calories at all. Yet, I do want to be accountable to my eating. How do I make a resolution that covers all those facets of diet?

I really am interested in drawing something every day of 2022. It is something I have not attempted before. I have never set out to do a full year worth of sketches. Should I make a resolution about that?

I have tons of secret evil plans for every aspect of my life. I believe in constantly attempting to improve myself, my situation, and my connections to the people around me. How does a person prioritize all these things and boil them down into resolutions? I think the answer to all of this is that I don't. 

Over the years I have had a mixed record of success and failure with New Year's Resolutions. I do not have a problem with them other than the fact that they are essentially just goals. Goals are not an effective way of accomplishment. Figuring out where you want to end up very rarely informs you on the steps necessary to get there. I could say," I want to go to Rome." The actual steps to get there involve lots of planning, paperwork, travel, and most of all not getting disinterested in that goal. I think most resolutions fail with a shift in priority. 

I do not want to tie any of the things important to me to a casual goal that I won't exactly remember in 3 or 4 months once the unexpected challenges of 2022 present themselves. I already know most of the things I want to accomplish personally, professionally, financially, and physically in 2022. Instead of putting together resolutions I am working on building better systems to realize my dreams. 

The cost of all that is shifting my focus away from things that distract me from those goals. Its funny how eliminating distractions focus me more toward what matters. The only time that gets complicated is when I cannot share certain activities with the people I want to. 

For example, I have had an idea for a podcast for a while now about hiking, motorcycles, and kayaking. I really think it would be fun to make as I am losing weight and getting more comfortable taking more difficult adventures.  I would love the idea even more if I could include my podcast partner, Garin. The catch to that is he doesn't ride a motorcycle (personal choice there. no judgement) and hiking really hurts his knees. I have shelved the idea for well over a year and half because I haven't quite gotten the concept together. Riding alone to a trail and then hiking while talking to a GoPro doesn't feel horrible, but it doesn't feel amazing either. 

No matter what you decide for your resolutions in 2022, if they are a single line of a vague goal, or if you sit down and map out complicated systems to make things work I wish you luck with them/it. I envy the people who can carefully chart their course that way. I work better with figuring out systems through trial and error. 

That may come to include an indoor shooting range in my storage unit. Because I just realized I can easily avoid the weather and shoot my bow in a 40 foot container. I love when I write myself into fun ideas. 

Happy New Year! Welcome to the 4th year of the Pandemic. May you all be happy, healthy, and have what you need to be those things.