That New Year's Smell

It's that time of year again-the beginning. Time for reflection and planning, lists on legal pads and goals in journals, "white boarding" and forecasts and spreadsheets. Time to envision a new year better than the old. It's time to take stock or, alternatively, buy some back. It's New Year's resolution time. In honor of this hackneyed ritual of serial self-improvement I'd like to propose a New Year's resolution of the collective sort: A resolution to make no resolutions. (Insert audible gasp here.) Yes, I hear you: new products must be developed, extra pounds shed, titanium widgets milled for just-in-time delivery,speaking engagements booked, websites updated, and smoking ceased. In short, business must continue to do business and businesspeople must resolve to improve. That's just the way it is. Otherwise, well...well, something very bad will happen. Exactly what, we don't know, but it's bad, very bad. On the personal front, you write down such self-incriminating pledges as: procrastinate less, eat better, go to the gym, be a more attentive parent or partner and other countless versions of, "I would be a better/happier/more successful person if only I could fix 'insert judgment here.' " And what if you happen to have the audacity to shun this annual opportunity for transcendence promised by this litany of resolutions? Well, I guess we'll deal with that when you get back from your inevitable, self-destructive bender-as an unrecognizable and pathetic shell of your former self, a certifiable failure, won't we? Meanwhile, back at the office, your manager (you?) wants to know your plan for '09. Instantaneously, a cartoon thought-balloon floats above your head: "Geez, Boss, life goes by while you're making plans. I thought we would, like, just play it by ear this year. You know, kick back and see where the market takes us." Realizing in a nick of time that this probably isn't a get-ahead, climb-the-ladder type of response, you mutter something about year-over-year increases in the 13 to 15 percent range, pending shifts in the marketplace as predicted by Jupiter Research and some Think Tank blah, blah, blah.... As the boss nods sagely and sips coffee, you log on to Netflix and add the movie "Office Space" to the top of your rental queue. Face it: Writing it down doesn't get things done any more than not writing it down brings on Henny Penny scenarios. Writing it down could just as likely transform a benign foible into an obsession. But this urge to improve is as much a part of our DNA as the "back to school" productivity that surges through us each September-no matter how long ago it was that we held a freshly sharpened No. 2 Ticonderoga. So you're a few pounds overweight, big deal. You're also a 47 year-old business owner who wears three hats, has two kids and works nearly 26 hours a day. Oh, and by the way, you don't delegate enough, you eat too much red meat and, well, you could be a little nicer, too.  Now get back to work and have a Happy New Year. 2008-12-29T19:21:08Z

2008-12-31T23:37:25Z

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that-new-years-smell

2008-12-31T23:37:21Z

Are lists and resolutions just another form of procrastination? What if you resolved to make no resolutions?

That New Year's Smell

2009-02-24T09:48:07Z