Fellow blogger and TriCrowd contributor, Joel, had an interesting Tweet yesterday and it hit home with me.

He said:  My 2012 New Year’s resolution: not to make any resolutions. Will do goals instead.


I really like that idea. Goals, not promises.  Actions, not words.

2011 was a crazy fun and year of growth and self-awareness for me. I am still growing (not so much wider this year) and learning.  But the Expert can attest, I am far less crazy than I was December 2010. 


Last year, I thought I made a bunch of resolutions but really, I did some goal setting.  As I checked out my resolution post from last year, I found some interesting threads (still battling with food addiction, still hard on myself), but I found some interesting things too.  


These were the goals I made last December, 2011:
1) Vegetarian, primarily vegan, diet
2) Run, bike, swim five days a week
3) Yoga once a week
4) Complete St. Anthony’s (May)
5) Complete Nations Triathlon (September)
6) Run a half marathon for my 32nd birthday


Looking back, 2011 was a year of absolutely crushing and surpassing goals.  Granted, I did not maintain any semblance of vegan status.  It’s okay, I made peace with that, and learned that I am one of those people who can do without land animals, but I need seafood.  Savannah girl. It’s in my veins.  And yoga sort of fell off.  But…


I set the goal of completing two Olympic distance races, St. Anthony’s and Nations.  I didn’t make it to Nations because Miami 70.3 was on the schedule.  I did St. Anthony’s and a local Oly race.  There’s two right there.
  
Then, I had set the goal to run a half-marathon by my 32nd birthday (November).  Well, I did my half-marathon in October. Sort of.  I ran 13.1 after swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 miles… 
My first half-marathon was the last leg of a 70.3 triathlon.
I had to blink a few times when I read my goals from last year. And to see a few of them surpassed. Not my point to brag.  

My point is: look what can happen in a year, look what you can do!!   Seriously.  Close your eyes, imagine something CRAZY for 2012.   Imagine it. Write it down.  Put it on your nightstand, your mirror, start a blog.

I have always made resolutions. Always.  The same one every year, actually.  “Lose weight” blah blah blah. 
Last year, I made a change that was fundamental to my infrastructure and I put some ridiculous goals into the universe.  Setting action oriented goals (swim, bike, and run five days a week) versus “I want to get skinny.” Yes, I want to lose weight.  I think I always will.  But to create a tangible, action-centered goal where a side-effect is firming up – that made a difference for me. 
I am going to ponder my goals for 2012 a few more days before I blurt them out.  But I am not waiting “to start” – not going to wait until January 1.  This train is chugging along, slowly but surely, and she’s gonna keep on choo-chooing right as the ball drops in Times Square. 
Let’s do it this year.  Let’s blow 2012 out of the water, friends. Let’s start now. Repeat after me:  I think I can. I think I can.  I know I can.  I am sure I will.

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What are your Goals for 2012??? 

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4 Responses

  1. I love this outlook! I'm horrible with resolutions myself. They never happen. But if I set goals via my blog or better yet via my training partners, I always accomplish them. I can't let myself or my friends down!

    And I'm with you. Let's blow 2012 right outta the water! Good luck with your planning and I can't wait to read about it!

  2. So agree with goals instead of resolutions (just read another blog post with a list of "things I'd like to see happen in 2012"). It just works!

    Training and racing wise I want to break 7 hours at Boise 70.3 in 2012. Business wise I want to break six figures in revenue in 2012.

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