2009 New Year's Resolutions Commentary:

So many New Year’s resolutions are framed as a guilt-oriented reaction to something we don’t want. The main example for this is the “weight loss resolution.” My own lack of success for the standard kind of New Year’s resolutions seems to be shared with most others too.

The standard New Year’s resolution seems to be made up of this kind of belief: ‘If I could only somehow become more disciplined and resolved to change some character flaw which stands in the way, then I would have a happier and more successful life’.

What hasn’t worked for me is this heavy handed approach where one part of me is put in charge of whipping the other part, that lazy sloth-ridden part, into submission. I have never been able to sustain an ongoing battle like this over a long period of time. So eventually, out of frustration, the resolution gets dropped, and usually long before the year is halfway through.
I’ll talk about what does actually work for me in a future commentary.

- Richard Chandler