To Resolve or Not...
By Ellie Cary
2010 – I find myself wondering how this can be – I have not finished my 2009 to-do list! Isn’t that always the case? We start the New Year with so many good intentions; most beginning with, “I will…” and we all know in most situations, “we won’t.” The cause, in this writer’s humble opinion, is that we begin our resolutions by taking on the whole year. Some things are best accomplished a week at a time or a month at a time. I learned this lesson last year when my friend Sharon Ward introduced me to the 52 Week Club.
Simply, you commit to organize one area of your house a week. The term “area” is very loose – it can mean one drawer, one cupboard, your magazine rack; at the end of the year you will have organized, cleaned out 52 areas of your home, office, garage, etc... It is great! Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the need to tackle a whole room, you feel empowered. I remember the day (make that the hour) I cleaned out my “what-not” drawers in my utility room. I had already purchased organizers (something I will get back to) and within one hour I had three drawers done and a waste basket filled with stuff I couldn’t remember what they were for, where they had come from and why I had kept them.
Back to my project for this past year – should you decide to join the 52 Week Club, enlist some friends; resolutions are easiest when you partner with someone. Also if you decide to get your drawers, cupboards, closets, garages organized make use of all the products that are available. There are organizers for everything – even that “what-not” drawer. You will be amazed – you can purchase dividers for your sock drawer! I found it easier to have some containers, drawer organizers, on hand so when I had the time to start a project I had what I needed. Also when organizing, apply the 30 second rule – have I used it in a year? Will I use it this year? If not throw it out – we all have too much clutter in our lives and purging is so liberating!
This really is a doable system. Instead of starting the year with, “I will lose weight this year”, you can start with, “this week I am not going to eat dessert” and at the end of the week perhaps you will have lost a pound. So, the next week you are not going to eat dessert and not have bread with dinner. Before you know it you will be down five pounds. Think about how much easier it is to resolve to do something for a week rather than for a year. A year is filled with so many unknowns and it is easier to put something off in the context of a year – a week is only seven days. Most of us can handle doing something once a week or not doing something for a week. This week I am going to walk during my lunch hour. This week I am going to meditate in the morning before work. This week I am going to clean my bookshelf. All positive – all confined to a specific time frame. At the end of the week you will feel that you have accomplished something and be empowered to go forward. Wow!
We all have life behaviors that cannot be solved so simply but sometimes conquering the simple things helps us to conquer the big things. Whatever your resolution for 2010, make it simple – make it fun – and take it one day at a time. 2011 will be here before you know it and whatever did not get done this year will be on next year’s list. 
