Resolutions, New Year

Each year, many of us resolve to improve our lives with the tradition of New Year's resolutions. More often than not, these changes we aim to make - often revolving around better health, productivity and stress - don't last much past January or February.

I have accomplished a handful of resolutions, though some were one-stop-shops like "get high-speed Internet access." This year, I have a new plan.

Instead of wasting my efforts by developing a list of self-improvements that I'll quickly disregard, I'm aiming to complete one project a month. These are items that have been on my "to do" list for some time - though some are new, too - but that seem too burdening to handle at once, or even together on a list. So, instead, I've assigned a goal to each month (there is also room to add), where accomplishing these one by one appears much more approachable, and my odds of completing more of the resolutions is higher.

I also have a few year-round items, like being involved in dance, photography and Friends of Midtown and cooking or baking one new thing each month.

January - Buy and hang window treatments. Thermal - woohoo! (Already ordered, too.)
February - Tackle my journals. I haven't decided how I want to interpret this - transpose them, burn them, who knows. I chose February not for the urgency of this item but because it'll be cold and I'm more likely to be holed up inside for longer periods of time. I imagine this will accompany many reruns of Law & Order.
March - When I moved last year, I removed all my photos from their crappy photo albums and put them in a box. Now I'd like to buy new, better albums (that won't yellow, etc.) and re-organize these photos. Again, cold weather and L&O.
April - spring cleaning!
May - I'd like to try to grow tomatoes on my back deck, but the resolution is "plant something."
June - Frame and hang all art.
July - Paint something. Art, not a room.
August - Write book about the resolution-a-month plan. This was added on the advice of friends who were bored with hearing of my specific, individual goals, but thought the concept was a seller.
September - currently open. Taking suggestions.
October - fall cleaning.
November - Christmas shopping. I did well this year, so I aim to match that or better. Maybe I can conclude my gift purchasing by Thanksgiving.
December - currently open. Perhaps I'll rest or work on preparing the goals for '08.