What If You Give Up Resolutions This Year?

What if rather than making resolutions, you commit to learning?

What if we break more resolutions than we make?

I'll always forget my last resolution because ever since I started picking up something new to learn as opposed to a goal to achieve, I've found myself finding more satisfaction and achieving more than when I had a specific goal as a target.

Once it was baking, another year, running. Last year, I started learning the guitar. Another year, I learned all about pirates.

The learning has neither time nor goal parameters; I don't read a whole lot about pirates anymore, but I run around 50 miles a week. I only bake a few pies a year, but I can also whip up some biscuits anytime I miss my mom.

What if you don't resolve to do anything in 2021 other than learn something new until it takes you to learn something else new?

Choose for yourself what you want to learn and how you go about learning it, but here are a few suggestions to maximize your learning:

-Choose something as far a field from your profession or day-to-day reality

-Learn anything: it can be learning how to design websites, how to sell something on eBay, all about the Ottoman Empire, or calligraphy, whatever you are curious to know more about

-Don't feel pressure to learn something to an end, such as learning an instrument until you are perfect--or even proficient--at it, just learn about it as long as it brings you value and you remain curious

-Focus on the learning process as much as the learning focus

-Pay attention to how you learn and what motivates you to learn

-Stop learning about it--and pick learning about it back up--whenever you feel like it

-Be enthusiastic about what you choose to learn and how you go about learning it

-Stay curious!

Happy learning, and Happy New Year!