Gut Check Time! Resolutions

      Josiah, here. For those of you unfamiliar with the term ‘gut check,’ it’s a phrase signifying a time for courage or doggedness. It says now is the moment and asks whether you’ll step up or not. I’ve heard it most often in sports - 10 seconds left, the ball is in your hands… gut check. Can you handle it? 

   It’s the first week of February and this is New Year’s Resolution gut check time. The buzz of January has faded. That treadmill that looked so shiny and new has a little wear and tear on it. The foods you swore to stay away from are looking pretty tempting (or the ones you swore you’d eat are starting to taste stale…). The things you said you’d do once a month… well you either did them or didn’t. If you let up now, your friends might have a few jokes at your expense -  but by the end of the year all would be forgotten and you’d be the same as you started the year, probably making the same resolutions. Now's your chance. In or out?  Gut check. 

“That’s an expensive clothes hangar”

     So. In the spirit of gut checking on NYRez’s I thought I’d go over a few of mine and give myself a grade based on how I’ve done. And I encourage you to do the same. (Not mine… grade yours…) 

- Floss Everyday
     
     Whew. A tough one right out of the gate. This is a phenomenally hard thing resolution for me. In fact it was a resolution for 2014 as well and I’ve improved a touch. I do it somedays but others… not so much. For whatever reason flossing takes a lot of oomph and I so rarely have it at the end of the day. 

     Brett McKay, from artofmanliness.com talks about willpower being a finite thing. Something that you use as the day goes on and gets depleted the more you you use it. But like a muscle the more you use it the stronger you get. Since I’ve been trying to floss at the end of the day, maybe my willpower has been used on the other things I’ve been doing. And so my solution to this flossing problem is to try it in the morning. Which is what I’m going to do. 

Grade: C, but I’m gonna bump it up to a C+ for coming up with a plan. 

- Meet with Darrell about HWWs every Monday

     This is nice because it involves another person. Accountability is key. There have already been Monday Meetings I have thought about skipping, but having someone else keeping me accountable has made it, if not easier, has at least made it happen pretty consistently. We missed one meeting but we made it up on Tuesday, so I’m gonna go with… 

Grade: B+ with a chance for improvement.

Lionel says you can do better!

- Read a Classic Book every month

    This one was kind of a gimme for me since I love to read and it’s only been a month. Picking the books has been harder than actually reading them and I’ve read two books already in one month. But just to say something about picking easy habits, BJ Fogg of TinyHabits says that an easy habit is a great place to start. It’s the act of doing that makes a habit - it doesn’t have to be difficult. Once it’s formed in your day as a habit, you can increase the difficulty. 

Grade: A, but one of those easy A’s like taking Bowling as an elective your senior year of college. No, you know what, Bowling is just as important as Chemistry or Calculus or… ok, I’ll stop. 


-Write everyday for one hour (At least 5 days a week)


     Well… I’m writing this article, that’s nice, yes? That’s something. I actually made that resolution hoping for the writing to be creative writing. Which I’ve found is very difficult. What’s been so troubling about this particular resolution is I’ve had to learn how to block off an hour of time in our increasingly distracting world. It can be difficult to block off an hour a day when the temptations of Netflix or YouTube are just around the corner. I’ve found that I’m most productive earlier in the day (willpower!), when I’m in a public place, and am writing in a booklet as opposed to my computer. The public place helps me focus and using a pen and paper keeps me from deleting - the biggest temptation on a computer. Deleting is editing. Writing is creating. It’s been a bumpy start but I think I’m finding my groove. 

Grade: B with hopes for a plus later in the year. 

I’ll keep examining my resolutions as the year goes by. Let us know how you’re doing on yours!