No need to overthink what to write about on December 31st.  New Year’s Resolutions, of course!

Oftentimes new year’s resolutions focus on physical health.  People seem to love resolving to eat better, exercise more or drink more water.

It seems so common that our resolutions are activity based.  We want to do more of something we perceive to be good for us or less of something that is bad for us.  This makes them easy to measure, but are often predicated on the assumption that we have free time with which to fill this new healthy activity or can consistently give up something else we have been doing (and likely enjoying).

What if instead, we established our resolution on how we feel.  The objective of these other activity based things is ultimately to feel better.  Feel better physically, yes, but mostly better about ourselves.  So what if the feeling was the goal and the measurement, not just the activity?

My resolution for this year, is to be more joyful in my work.  I love to work.  I love my job and feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to get to serve in the position I have with the people I have the privilege to work alongside.  I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility regarding my position.  I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to be successful because so many around me put forth so much effort.  They make sacrifices too and deserve to be successful, so if I am not leading well, I am letting them down.  This responsibility becomes a burden that I carry very heavy and drives me to be emotionally heavy.  That responsibility, that sense of duty to those I serve and that serve with me, will not go away.  I cannot turn this off nor will I allow myself to take it lightly.

However, I want to make sure they feel joy and reward in their success.  I want to feel the same.  It is my sincere desire that we all enjoy the growth process.  I can tell you how much I love my job, love the people I work with, but if it doesn’t show, you won’t truly believe it.  Thus, my resolution is to focus on and outwardly express more joy in my job.

Measuring this result will be difficult because it is not as black and white a measurement as activity that I am either doing or not doing. I will be journaling about how I feel and asking those around me to reflect back to me whether or not they are seeing this manifest in me.  They’ll know if I am carrying the burden too heavily or letting my joy through.

One last thing I love about thinking of my resolution in terms of the emotion I feel is that it lends itself to a strategic approach including multiple activities.  If one activity is not successful in impacting how I feel, I can change it.  The resolution being the emotion no longer limits my success to one activity.  This makes it harder to give up because I have already failed early in the year.  The goal being harder to measure may make it a little to recognize success, but it also makes it harder to recognize abject failure.  I can’t give up due to miserable failure, because I haven’t really failed yet, just working on figuring it out.

Now its your turn to go figure out how you want to feel better in 2016!