Forget Resolutions—Let’s Set Some Intentions

This time of year, you can’t hardly open a browser without stumbling over lots of great advice about how to make New Year’s resolutions stick—stuff like keeping the steps toward an ultimate goal SMART, which stands for, depending on what source you rely on, small/simple/specific, measurable/meaningful, actionable/attainable, realistic/rewarding, and time-based/trackable—

OK, so if we can’t even agree to what SMART stands for, how doomed are we at setting those goals, much less achieving them?

I know, any excuse will do, right? I gave up on making New Year’s resolutions eons ago anyway, probably about the time when I realized that, no matter how much yoga I do, my days of being able to do a split probably are over. And who needs the guilt, along with the bill for the gym you don’t go to anymore by the time February rolls around, or the Weight Watchers meetings you just can’t quite find time for, or whatever your personal guilt-inducers might be.

But even as I stare down the bitter back end of the wretched beast that was 2016. Really, did we have to close out the year by losing George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds on top of David Bowie. Glenn Frey, Abe Vigoda, Maurice White, Edgar Mitchell, Antonin Scalia, Harper Lee, Umberto Eco, Pat Conroy. Nancy Reagan, Garry Shandling, Merle Haggard, Prince, Morley Safer, Muhammad Ali, Elie Weisel, Garry Marshall, Gene Wilder. Edward Albee, Janet Reno, Shimon Peres, Leon Russell, Gwen Ifill, Florence Henderson, Fidel Castro, John Glenn, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, along with many, many more famous and everyday, much-beloved people—

I can’t give up hope on 2017

In 2017, we are bound to be more blessed, and cursed, than ever along the lines of that old adage. “May you live in interesting times.” We will lose more people we love, admire. Fallout from the bizarre presidential election process will have repercussions both within and without the U.S.

I have no doubt that our wildly unpredictable PEOTUS and his cabinet picks will bring more changes, and quickly. Whether that’s for the better or for the worse depends on your world view. But the days of politics as usual are firmly in the rear-view mirror. Technology, the economy, neuroscience, and new ideas will continue to change how we meet. Who knows, 2017 may even be the year we kill the RFP.