Saturday, December 31, 2011

Goodbye 2011

Tonight, many of my Facebook friends updated their profiles with messages about how they were glad to see the back of 2011 - and couldn't wait for the New Year and all it would bring.

Personally, I thought 2011 was a great year. From a personal perspective, it was perhaps the best year of my life.

It saw me grow as an individual in countless ways; and it was the first time in my life that I really started to believe that I'd got a handle on things. So I'm not glad to see 2011 go - to quote The Chairman, it was "a very good year."

But everything I've learned this year has set me up for an even better 2012. I'm on the right track now - steaming ahead but with a lot of momentum left to build. I've become a better person than I ever was; but realizing that has also made me realize I've got an awful lot of work left to do.

But I'm excited by the challenge; and even more excited by the proposition of meeting it head on. 2011, in my estimation, was the best year of my life. 2012 will be as well.

I'm not much of one for resolutions, although I've made some. Mummy Militant is going hardcore vegetarian in the New Year for health reasons, and I might join her in an effort to get my body fat percentage down to single digits. I've also made some specific plans about how to improve my professional and financial future - although I won't bore you with those details.

In slightly vaguer terms, I have put down ten resolutions I hope to live by in the coming year. They're areas in my life in which I've often been found wanting; so I'm hoping to address them, and beat them, in the coming twelve months.

I've also made another list - one I don't feel comfortable sharing here. It's unofficially called: "The Militant Ginger List of Wildly Unrational Ambitions" and includes things that a more conservative mind might think would be "unachievable."

But this year has taught me two imperitive facts. Firstly, that nothing the human mind can conceive is unachievable. Secondly, that those who write down their New Year's Resolutions have been scientifically recorded as being 11 times more likely to actually stick to them.

Are you ready to be a better "you" in 2012? I know I am.

Happy New Year.

Militant Ginger's New Year's Resolutions
  1. I will do at least one thing every day that sows a seed for a future fortune. 
  2. I will now strive to be the best that I can be. 
  3. I will no longer let other people keep me back from achieving my ambitions. 
  4. I will strive to always be scrupulously honest. 
  5. I will make sure I do everything that I promised I would do. 
  6. I will do one thing every day that pushes me outside my comfort zone. 
  7. I will no longer settle for personal mediocrity. 
  8. I will say nothing of anybody behind their back that I wouldn’t say to their face. 
  9. When things don’t work out, I will change my plan of attack and try again. 
  10. I will define my ambitions and work to turn each one of them into reality.

3 comments:

Susanne said...

wow, great list!! I'm glad 2011 was such a good year for you and I wish you an even better 2012!

Andy said...

Excellent piece, Roland!

2011 WAS good for you.

I've been a vegetarian since age 28...so...24 years now. Went that way for health reasons, too. Don't miss meat one bit, and never once did, even in the early days. But, I do eat fish...Jesus fed people fish.

Good list. I'm going to post it on the credenza above my desk.

Happy, prosperous 2012 to you, your family, and all of your visitors!

Lloydie said...

Love this post. A great list of things to live by too :)