New Year's Resolution 2012

We're in the final few hours of 2011 and I can honestly say I've never looked forward to a new year as much as this one. I'm bidding farewell to my jobless, post-surgical, daytime-TV-watching, living-with-my-parents lifestyle and trading it in for a fantastic new job, my own apartment (sans roommate), and one less annoyingly painful bone in my right foot. It's going to be a good year.

In 2010 I decided to start making only one resolution every year after failing miserably to complete my 2009 laundry list of to-dos. This proved to be far more effective, so I continued the trend for 2011.

Last year's resolution was about financial giving. It was inspired by a blog post series called Stuff I Wish Everybody Knew About Money written by a friend of mine who runs an amazing church ministry in Kenosha, Wisconsin. While I didn't agree with everything, it certainly made me think about my attitude towards money and giving.

I decided to be more intentional about supporting specific causes so that I could feel more connected to them through giving. I made a spreadsheet and added the line item to my monthly budget in Mint like the giant Type a nerd I am. In all honesty, I could have done better. I should be giving more than I do, but the resolution led to a few good habits that will be the foundation of a lifetime of meaningful charitable giving.

This is why I'm such a fan of the singular new year's resolution - it leads to actual behavior change. Stating your goals publicly also helps. This brings me to my 2012 resolution, which is to spend less time complaining.

This is partially an attempt to reconcile lingering bitterness over being voted "Biggest Complainer" by my high school classmates. Unfortunately, they were right, and as much as I loathe the fact that educators sanction this sort of public humiliation, I couldn't exactly complain about it.

Mostly, this resolution is about focusing on the infinitely more interesting, important, and productive topics to discuss rather than my inept cab driver or incorrect Starbucks order - like how you're doing, for example.

So, here's to a new year, a new start in NYC, another softball championship (shoutout to my Buzz teammates) and a 2012 filled with interesting conversation and a lot less complaining.