A Single Resolution

It’s become somewhat of a cliché to recognize the inefficacy of New Year’s resolutions.

Perhaps this year instead of listing resolutions, we should take a moment to reflect upon the alignment between our time and personal values over the past 12 months.

This is a topic that I wrote about in March. A lot has happened since then though, and the seemingly fresh start to this New Year is as good of an opportunity as any to revisit the concept.

We each value different things — from community to achievement to freedom to creativity. Values are not universal. The best thing that we can each therefore become is the truest version of ourselves. We can accomplish this by first defining our values and then by ensuring that we invest our time into activities that promote these values.

I’ve developed a simple three-step process to define your personal values.

1. Reflect upon the ten peak experiences in your life that have brought you the most joy, pride, or bliss. Distill the essence of each experience into a single word.
2. Reflect upon the ten traits and qualities that you seek out in the people whom you choose to surround yourself with. Distill the essence of each trait into a single word.
3. Combine these two lists, merging any that are similar together. Rank them in order of their importance to you and highlight the top five as your core values.

Now take a few moments to reflect upon how you invested your time over the past 12 months. Our time tends to break down into three categories of focus.

1. Self: exercise, education, consumption of media, personal care, etc.
2. Relationships: Family, friends, co-workers, social media connections, etc.
3. Work: income generating activities, volunteer activities, creative activities, etc.

Finally, within each category, consider…

Self: Which activity investments led you to more fully embody your core values?

Relationships: Which relationship investments were with people who truly exhibit your core values?

Work: Which work investments created the change that you seek to promote through your values?

And as 2020 becomes a memory, in what ways should we refocus our time this upcoming year to better align with our values?…If there’s a single resolution that we should all make this New Years Eve, it is to take a moment to reflect on this question every day.

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