I think making Resolutions at the New Year is a helpful and healthy thing to do. I get the impression doing so is unpopular these days. Here's why I think it's a good idea:
1. Schedules and Time (helps that it's beyond you and me)
I realize that if you think about it REALLY HARD January 1, 2014 is pretty arbitrary. It's just another day in the winter season. I had conversations with two separate people in the last couple of weeks revolving around that very point.
I believe that it's good to recognize time, dates, and cycles of the year. What happens when such things aren't recognized? The simple answer is you miss birthdays, anniversaries, and other important events. And then you have a bunch of aggravated friends and family members.
The more complex answer: life is over sooner than you expect it. If the turning over of a New Year is just 'another day,' then we lose the specialness we once revered in the passage of time. We have days and other days and then even more days. Then we wake up and a lot of time has passed us by. I'm 28 and I'm starting to feel that effect. My goodness, I was a senior in high school ten years ago. When did ten years happen? Taking the time to mark those yearly, special occasions slows life down - if only a little bit.
2. Personal Assessment
Oh gosh, I truly believe assessment of one's life is so important. Unfortunately, this is an age of 'do what you feel is right' and 'anything goes.' If anything goes, then there really isn't a need to check progress or status in life. Let me say, as a musician anything does NOT go. I can't show up to an audition or a job and just play whatever I want in whatever matter I want. People expect things. Audition panels want to hear a certain sound and ZERO mistakes. Conductors want certain musicians who'll play in particular styles to fit the job. If I need to produce a certain outcome to achieve success in my musical career, then I need periodic checkups to make sure I'm heading towards that outcome.
Alright, assessment - great. What helps to make that happen is a set point in time. A fixed moment that forces one to sit down and say, "What am I now, and how can I be better?" Someone said to me recently that they could work to improve themselves year-round and don't need a New Year date for an assessment. To me, doing it as the year progresses seems somewhat shortsighted - as if you're looking only to next week. I believe a fresh look at life at the start of a new calendar year can lead to some new directions and experiences in the big picture. Resolve to do big things on purpose, and you have a greater chance of them happening than if you left life up to chance.
3. Historical Records
New Year's resolutions are a great way to remember the history of our lives. Things that don't go well are great lessons. We're all taught by own lives - even our children learn from how we've lived! By taking a moment on or near New Year's Day to set goals or resolve to do new things, we remind ourselves of the last year we've lived. Even better if there's written documentation: years down the road, you can look back on a piece of yourself. Old resolutions contain our young hopes and dreams, but they also contain evidence of what went wrong in a past life. I find that kind of thing interesting to look back on.
Ok, enough verbiage. Here are my resolutions:
1. Take more auditions. In 2013, I did one (my first one ever). In 2014, I want to take at least 5.
2. Increase my performance income by 50%. It's tacky to say how much I earned last year, but I will tell you that I haven't met my financial goal yet.
3. Get lesson invoices out to my parents within the first week of the new month. I'll admit that am not a huge fan of the 'administrative' part of my self-employment. I let this stop me from being responsible toward my clients - and I know they don't appreciate it. I resolve to be better about this.
4. Blog once a week. For years I followed Boyd Dupree's
blog on Eisley (his kids' band). I follow other bloggers, too. Shoot, we all do. We get nice insights into the stuff we love through things like a blog. I would like to be an open window into the music world. Therefore, I'll try and blog once a week.
