Tag Archives: New Year

I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving; having,from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes so a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O GOD, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions. Samuel Johnson

I thought this quote sums up my experience of making resolution and then doing nothing to make any headway on them. This year I have decided to do something a little different…I have decided to have a happiness project.

I just finished reading “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin.

I thought the book was well written. I liked how Gretchen assigned each month with an area to improve upon. She tried new things and ideas. Sometimes they brought about the desired happiness and sometimes they did not.

In the book, Gretchen stated that the key to the success of her experiment was her resolution chart. She also used Benjamin Franklins Chart of 13 Virtues to come up with her resolution chart.

In Gretchen’s experiment, January was the month to work on boosting energy and vitality.

She resolved to:
1. Go to sleep earlier
2. Exercise better
3. Toss, restore, organize
4. Tackle a nagging task
5. Act more energetic

I was wondering about Benjamin Franklin’s Chart. I was able to find a nice PDF file that listed his virtues. The first virtue was temperance. Temperance was to eat not to dullness. Drink not to elation. I thought that this virtue goes well with Gretchen’s list for January.

Here is my list:
1. Go to bed earlier. I have read in many health articles that getting 7-8 hours of sleep is very good for you and can even help with weight loss. Usually, I do go to bed around 11pm and wake up at 5am. I love getting up early so to get at least 7 hours of sleep I will need to be in bed ready to sleep at 10 pm.

2. I exercise pretty regularly. I’m already signed up for a 5k on March 24. I’m not good at strength training. I’m going to try to come up with a consistent exercise program that incorporates more weight training. Also, my eating habits are terrible. I need to come up with some sort of plan to eat healthier.

3. Toss, restore, organize. It is true that chaos can stifle creativity. Here is a picture of my home office. I even have a closet that I call the “dungeon” because ….it is hard to explain.
My office…..

The “dungeon”

There is a lot here that needs to be tossed, restored and organized. This room takes all my energy away.

4. Tackle a nagging task….I’m sure that I have many in my office.

5. Finally, act energetic. Maybe if I act energetic I will be energetic…or at least think I have it.