With the new year just a few days old, the atmosphere is thick with upbeat greetings and optimistic resolve. This ritual is so ingrained in us, we can’t help ourselves. It’s what we humans do each year in our endless failed attempts to be gods instead.
By January 5 or so, jokes are swirling around the water cooler about how long it took to break this or that resolution – with a cookie, a drink, or a missed morning run. We laugh at ourselves and forgive ourselves and move on. Nothing gained or lost except a pound or two, but something very big is missed: the genuine, very human, will to transcend the norm and have an exceptionally good life.
New Year’s resolutions are inevitable; they will continue to exist as part of the new year ritual.
But, in general, they are rigged to fail for at least two reasons:
- They are high-concept, e.g., “I will never eat a fattening thing again, and I will be thin once and for all.” No philosophy, strategy, tactics, or plan.
- They tend to be based on a false or shallow premise, e.g., “I am going to get a good-paying job so I can earn more money, buy more things, and be happier.”
and/or,
I want to have a different conversation – a deeper, broader, more meaningful conversation – one that doesn’t slip through your fingers in a few days or weeks. This conversation has everything to do with the quality of your life and work, day after day, all year long and well into the future. How about resolving to enter that conversation this year? How about resolving to have a good life, and developing strategies and tactics to make that happen?
As a Career and Life Coach for over 22 years now, I have largely facilitated these kinds of conversations behind closed doors, one person at a time. They are full, deep, rich, serious, fun, funny, challenging, and profound conversations about life and work, that most often lead to clear, practical decisions, positive development, and change. For example, a brilliant teacher decides to marry, train teachers, and write books. An attorney leaves his large firm to start a small one of his own. A public relations professional becomes a storyteller, playwright, and actress at age 60. Most people get on the right track and begin to move forward.
Making a Good Life Happen as a philosophy may sound abstract and complex, but I assure you, it is as simple and profound as a stone. You can do this.
Please follow me here in this blog, and enter into the conversation you really want to have about your life and work. We’ll deal with powerful strategies and effective tactics, including The Resume, where confusion reigns.
What is a good life for you? What’s working and what’s not?
Our dear Bonnie Bonetti-Bell was the force behind our Career/Life Coaching services, until her passing in 2019. As a principal of our firm, Bonnie had an innate talent for seeing the best in people. Moreover, she helped others see the best in themselves. Bonnie is fondly remembered and deeply missed.