Keep your eyes on the goal

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. As a general rule, I believe if you want to start (or stop) doing something, you should just start (or stop) doing that thing.  You don’t need to “resolve” to do it, and you certainly shouldn’t wait until January to start (or stop) doing whatever it is you want to start (or stop) doing.

I do, however, believe in setting goals.  A few years ago during our annual Christmas Tea, we decided to share our goals for the coming year.  The following week, we memorialized our goals via email, and at some point later that year, we all did a “goal check up” (again via email), before repeating the process the following Christmas.  We did this because it seemed like a good idea.  Little did we know that writing down your goals, making them public, and being accountable to others for your goals are considered some of the best ways to ensure that they happen.  I’d also add that specific and quantifiable measurements make a big difference.

Hopefully you can see the difference between making New Year’s resolutions and setting clear, measurable goals.  If not, let me show you:

Resolution (bad): I’m going to get in shape in 2011.

Goal (good): I’m going to run the River Bank Run on May 7, 2011 (great day, by the way).

There’s no good way to track “getting in shape.”  Does it mean going to the gym 4 times per week?  Increasing your bench press?  Lowering your average pace per mile?  Additionally, there’s no way to figure out when you’ve gotten in shape, and therefore, even if you do manage to “get in shape” you won’t get the benefit that comes from knowing you achieved your goal.

On the other hand, committing to running a 15-mile race on a specific day gives you an obvious, measurable goal to work towards, with clear signposts along the way (such as being able to run 3 miles, 5 miles, 10 miles, etc.).  On your way to reaching that goal, you are very likely to “get in shape” (whatever that means), and, oh, by the way, it’s going to feel great when you finish the race and achieve your goal.

Now that you know how I feel, here are my 3 goals for 2011:

1. Run 365 miles.

After a 2-year hiatus, I’ve recently started running again a couple of times per week.  I’ve been exercising regularly since law school (thanks, Dad, for suggesting that going to the gym was a good thing to do when I was sick of studying), but my relationship with running has been very on again off again.  This year, I’m going to run an average of 1 mile per day (but not actually run 1 mile each day).  So far, I’m WAY ahead of pace, having run 3 miles in 2 days (547.5 miles per year pace for you non-math types).

2. Read 12 books.

This is year 3 of this goal.  In 2009 I finished about a week late.  In 2010 I had a lot more time on my hands and nearly tripled my goal, reading 33 books.  After getting a book from Kate for my birthday, and a Kindle from my parents for Christmas, I feel good that I can achieve this goal again.

3. Find a job/career path that I’m comfortable doing for the next few years.

I used to think that I was going to get out of school, go to work for one organization, stay there for 40 years, and then retire.  Well, that obviously didn’t happen.  So let’s try to simplify and find something that I want to do for at least a few years.

Happy New Year!

On Reading

After updating our reading list, I realized that I have (and have had, for years) an obsession with reading multiple books by the same author.

On this trip I’ve read all 7 of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, 2 John Grisham books (to go along with 2 I read earlier this year), 2 Agatha Christie books (which makes me a grandma, according to Kate), 2 of Tim Horford’s econ books (in addition to one last summer), and Scott Turow’s latest novel (to go along with Presumed Innocent, which I finally read just before we left, and another of his books which I just bought).

Earlier this year I read 2 Nick Hornby books (having read a few others by him in years past), the second of which, Fever Pitch, put me on a soccer kick, leading me to read Brilliant Orange (per Justin’s recommendation) and Soccernomics (which is what led me back to Horford).

Last year I read The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  In the past it has been Tom Robbins, Malcolm Gladwell, J.R.R. Tolkein, and the Harry Potter series.   Who/what will I read next?  No idea, but it will probably be written by someone with more than one book out there.

Kate and I with my beloved Chronicles of Narnia (which I gave away, sadly)