New Year's Intentions (Not Resolutions)

Q&A With Shay Every Other Sunday

We’re a week into 2022 already, and January seems to be moving along faster than it usually does. With the beginning of the year underway it’s a good time to check in on what we all set out to accomplish from the start. Have you been sticking to your resolutions/intentions/habits/goals—whatever you want to call them—so far?

Q: How do you differentiate between New Year’s intentions and resolutions?

A: I don’t typically set New Year’s resolutions any longer because I don’t think we should need a date on a calendar to resolve to make changes and cultivate better habits in areas of our lives. But, I also understand how the new year feels like a fresh start, and can bring about a sort of motivation not readily available on any other date. It felt exactly like that for me this year. My 2021 ended 100% differently than it started in basically every way—personally, professionally, locationally, and anything in between. Usually I don’t look forward to the New Year, and tend to feel anxiety over it. The New Year is just such a concrete mark of time passing, which can be scary. This year, however, I didn’t have the usual anxiousness about it, partly because I’m learning not to exert so much energy trying to control situations I have no control over. Instead, I’m ready to take on this year with the intentions (not resolutions) I set for myself.

I was already in the process of implementing these intentions before 2022, but on New Year’s I wrote out a list of daily habits that I have kept next to my computer that I check in with each day. (So far, so good.)

When it comes down to it, intentions are pretty similar if not the same as resolutions, but I do think there is one key difference between the two ideas regardless of whatever word we use. One of the definitions of the word resolution is: “the act of answering—solving.” This seems too immediate to me, like results (or solutions) are expected promptly with one decision. People always declare they’ll do (or stop doing) all these things for their resolutions, and then they lose steam like we all do when we say we’re going to accomplish something without a clear plan—or the drive—to do so. My intentions aren’t anything that will bring immediate results—this is the big differentiation for me right now. My intentions are about the process and the long-term by putting daily habits into effect that will move me toward my goals. Resolutions—to me—seem to be less about habits. But, whether we call them resolutions, intentions, goals, or something else entirely, it’s worth checking in with ourselves about realistic expectations by the work we put in, the drive we have, and what we’re willing to sacrifice along the way. If we have a goal and take no action each day to achieve it, then is it realistic? Probably not. This is what I will be keeping in mind going forward. Things don’t magically work themselves out or change on their own, we have to make it happen with our efforts.

Habits shape our lives more than goals do. Goals typically have an expiration date, and if habits weren’t implemented to achieve the goal then it will expire and nothing will have changed. We need solid habits to get us to our goals. Habits are constant, they have no expiration date, and they are what determine our futures.

I’m not going to list any of the intentions I set for myself because one thing I have also been doing differently is not sharing as much about my personal and professional goals, and simply sticking to the work—the habits—that will get me there. So, stay tuned for all that is to come in 2022, and I encourage you to check in about your goals and ask yourself if your daily habits right now will help you achieve those goals. For me lately, the answer has been no, and that’s where the change of habits come in and where my New Year’s intentions come from.

What are some of your New Year’s intentions or resolutions and do you differentiate between the word choices or ideas? And do you agree with deciding to do things differently just because it’s a new year?