Bright and Shiny

by Graham

I’ll admit, New Years Resolutions aren’t necessarily my thing. I’m all for self awareness and personal goals. I just find a once a year approach to them to be wholly inadequate. It is best, in my opinion, to adopt a regular approach to conscious and intentional growth, development and boundary pushing. Incorporating it into your life fully and integrally, rather than piecemeal and arbitrarily, is how real change happens in my experience. That said, life presents many opportunities which offer extra effect for our actions. Relating your personal intentions to the cultural celebration of a new calendar year is one of those. It’s certainly not a new phenomenon either. Throughout history, all the way back to the Babylonians, humans have been making commitments of personal improvement for various reasons (personal, religious, social, etc. . ).

At the point I find myself in this life I have adopted an approach which is not entirely functional. About 5 years ago I was given advice by someone very close and dear to me with regard to my approach to life. I took it. It has ultimately been the worst advice I have ever received.

“Be less intense”

I’m a pretty easy going fellow. I live a relatively stress free life by design. I’m also, as someone recently put it, “a smarty”. I have been my whole life. My High School ran out of math to teach me and I have continually been at the top of classes with relatively little effort on my behalf. Consequently, I have to challenge myself. When I stepped my intensity back, that is primarily how I achieved it. By taking less risks, smaller projects and accepting things I wouldn’t normally. As a result my happiness, wallet and personal relationships have suffered. I have put aside my passions for more mundane things to create a more easily socially acceptable persona. This is changing in 2013.

My New Years Resolution is easily put

“Be more intense”

There is no list of individual things I would like to accomplish. Just the one behavior/mindset/mantra. I like to think big. Big thoughts become big goals. Big goals require big actions. As someone who rarely has partners on my projects those big actions become my responsibility and mine alone. It takes intense, direct actions to accomplish these goals. These accomplishments are a by product of my resolve.

Watch your face, it’s about to get bright!