What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Let’s review some of the classics:
Eat healthier.
Exercise more.
Get organized.
Sound familiar?
What may also be familiar to you is the vaporizing of your resolutions somewhere around February 6th. Seriously, have you ever been able to keep your resolutions into the month of March?
If I were a psychologist, I could offer up some reasons why. But as a coach, I’m less interested in why you give up on your resolutions, and way more focused on what you can do with the glorious potential of the year ahead.
I suggest you eschew resolutions in favor of what I call a “Theme Year.” Expressed as the “Year of ________.”
In a Theme Year, you spend the next 365 days guided by an idea.
Two years ago, I embarked on a “Year of Living Stoically.” It was truly transformative.
For you, maybe this year could be your “Year of Learning.” This would allow you to learn stuff. Maybe it’s a new language. Or a martial art. Or something culinary. Maybe you’ll traipse through some “open courses” on the internet and learn about financial markets or poetry.
Here’s another idea: The “Year of Water.” Sure, it starts with you drinking more water. And maybe replacing every third Diet Mountain Dew with an agua. But Year of Water can also be about spending more time in and near water. Swimming and cold plunges?Maybe a few lunch breaks near a fountain. A vacation near the ocean, river, or a lake. Perhaps you will go to a museum or two in search of water paintings by artists: Monet and Hockney are good folks to start your treasure hunt. You might also begin taking photos of water for your social media and watching water movies (WaterWorld notwithstanding.) The point is, instead of a resolution to “drink more water,” you make water a broader theme for the year.
Now, here are some other good themes to try: A “Year of Music,” a “Year of Sport,” a “Year of Art,” a “Year of Travel.” How about a “Year of Friends?”
A “Year of Mindfulness?” Why not?
Also, when you make it a “Year of____,” you needn’t get all worked up on January 1. After all, you have 364 other days to start living out your theme.
Oddly enough, I was inspired to do theme years by the late, great David Bowie.
In 1972, he committed to his “Year of Ziggy Stardust.” He literally spent over a year living as a “rockstar from Mars.” I know, cray. But…it was a “themed” year and then some. And when he was finished with Ziggy, he picked another theme for the next years to focus on that being the “Thin White Duke.”
Now, you needn’t go to the extremes of Bowie as Ziggy. All you need to do is simply pick a theme — and see how enriching your next 12 months can be.
What will your “Year of ______” be?
Rob Schwartz is the Chair of the TBWA New York Group and an executive coach who channels his creativity, experience and wisdom into helping others get where they want to be. This was originally posted on his Substack, RobSchwartzHelps, where he covers work, life, and creativity.
