"Did you write out your goals for this year?"

This is from my husband, who single-handedly ingrained the New Year's resolution practice in our three children.

I craned my head to the side as I slouched on the sofa to see the television. "Hold on. I'm at the denouement for NCIS season 112."

I admit it. I dread writing out New Year's resolutions. In the past, my resolutions tended to be unoriginal (exercise more, eat less, watch less tv) and lacked measurable steps. It was less of a set of annual goals and more like my list of annual disappointments. And the crash and burn of my past New Year's resolutions lay entirely on my shoulders. I followed none of the tenets of setting achievable goals: SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound.

Under the pitying looks of my (mostly) adult children scribbling away their plans to dominate 2023, I slunk off to my office to reconsider my approach. I decided to start with a quick Google search for ways to lower my personal W/F rate for goals. (Yes, librarians Google. Come on, people, we went over this last year!)

I spent some time reviewing Google's 2022 search trends (wordle?!) but stumbled across an article on Verywell Mind discussing the Psychological Strategies That Can Help You Stick to Your Goals. I liked the tone, and the article made me consider something else: Maybe I was picking the wrong goals.

I decided to mix things up and add a couple of non-traditional goals to the list. Specifically, I adopted two from a list of 10 Unusual New Year's Resolutions:

  1. Every week, I will do something that is out of the routine (for example, turn on my camera for EVERY meeting at least one day a week).
  2. Every day, I will do something nice for someone else.

I recognize that these are relatively easy and innocuous, but I want a couple of wins to offset the more challenging goals.

If this idea intrigues you, may I throw out an option for consideration? Improve your library skills (yes, I went there). But before you jump to the Google trends list, hear me out. The library staff set a 2022 goal to introduce new videos for navigating the library. They had to be short (2-3 minutes), easy to follow, include the new library webpage design, and be done by the end of the year. And we nailed it! Consider reviewing them as easy wins to add to your goals list.

You can find all of our videos, including those in our new Getting Started in the Library collection, on our University of Phoenix Library YouTube page.

Have any unusual or alternative New Year's resolutions? We would love to hear about them!