Promises vs. Resolutions

As the month of January comes close to an end, I have been thinking about the various promises that I made to myself at the beginning of the year. I am reluctant to call them resolutions. The term resolution is derived from the word resolve, which, to me, would indicate that there is a problem, of which, a resolve is needed. This terminology gives off a certain vibe that we are somehow defective. On the other hand, promises are something that you make to a friend; and of all of your friends, aren’t you your best friend? So, for myself, I make promises.

Now, there are all of the obvious resolutions that people make. “I will lose weight”, “I will go to the gym more”, “I will attend church more”. But if you look at these carefully, they are so terribly vague that one might just find a way to accomplish nothing at all and still feel that they have achieved a great feat! If you only lose 1 pound throughout the year, then you have achieved weight loss. Similarly, someone who does not go to the gym could go one day out of the year and his or her goal is met! The same holds true for church. However, if you closely examine your resolutions, you can turn them into promises that will help you achieve a long-term goal on a short-term basis.

For example, I want to be more informed of worldly issues (long-term goal). As a graduate student in the Journalism department at the University of Memphis, I often find myself in conversation with journalists. Although I am focusing on public relations in my degree program, my colleagues are constantly scanning the mass media and critiquing articles, newscasts, talk radio and the like. Even if scanning for style rather than content, they seem to pick up on various items of importance that I do not get from my Communist…er...Commercial Appeal readings or the Fox News analysts. And furthermore, the time I have available to sit and read newspapers or watch television has dwindled down to about 2 hours a week.

So, my promise to myself is to find a quick, efficient way to filter through the plethora of information out there and follow at least one world event per week(short-term goal). I have updated by email subscriptions to include some feeds from Europe, the Middle East, and the coverage these events receive in the states. I am also opening my ears to conversations at the gym and school (the only two places I seem to go outside of the house these days) and listening for topics that I can research online.

In line with this, I promised myself that I would learn at least one new word a day. Now, they have calendars with “The Word of the Day”, and you can even get this emailed to you, so that you can learn various words in the morning while checking your email. But lets take this one step further. In addition to these emails, I also have a notebook that I carry with me and jot down words that I read or hear that I do not know.

As with the vagueness of “losing weight”, the term “learn” needs to be defined. How do you know if you have truly leaned something? Well, I am still working on a solid definition for this, but in this particular case, I am considering the word to be “learned” if I can accurately use it in a sentence during the week. These words are written on sticky notes with the definition and posted in various places—near my desk, on the bathroom mirror, inside my wallet and even inside my workout journal that I carry to the gym.

The thought process is that by constantly exposing myself to these words, I will eventually “learn” them well enough for them to be considered part of my vocabulary. At this point they are no longer words that require learning. (Effectiveness of this project is yet to be determined…but I’ll keep you informed)

There are numerous other promises that I have made to myself. These promises are mental, as I have pointed out above, and others are more in line with the physical and spiritual well-being of myself, my family and my relationships. Nonetheless, these promises are there to help me make it through the year and KNOW that I have accomplished the things that I want to achieve.

I urge my friends and family to examine your “resolutions” and make your promises for 2009 count!

By the way, the word of the day is:

obfuscate (tr. v.): to make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand; obfuscation (n), obfuscatory (adj.)