Live the New Year with Intention

Even if you don't believe in New Year's resolutions, the start of a new year is a good opportunity to look back at the prior year. What worked? What didn't? What must you do differently to be in a better place?

I do both the New Year's resolutions and the end-of-year analysis and there are two things that I always resolve to do more of: sleep and reading.

Since I, like many others, have too many things to juggle, sleep is the first thing I skimp on. And although books and reading feed my soul, heart, and mind, there's never enough time to read enough. So every year I resolve to do better...and I do, for a short time, then unfortunately revert to form.

Picking-up Life Is Good, The Book: How to Live with Purpose & Enjoy the Ride by Bert and John Jacobs has given me some insight into how I can hopefully do better this coming year.

I need to live life with intention. I need to focus on the positive in my life, simplify the rest, and be selective where I spend my time.

Although I'm good at getting things done and being organized, since I spend so much of my time in front of my laptop, I tend to stay there after hours too...and for no good reason. I no longer keep Facebook or Twitter tabs open, which has helped a bit, but it's still too easy to just find busy work at the computer. I finally realized this last week when I should have been getting ready for bed—or reading—but instead was staring at my screen, sure there was more I needed to do before shutting down (there wasn't).

Bert and John had a similar realization about e-mail and being plugged in. They were raised to appreciate optimism and learned to appreciate simplicity, which they consider one of the superpowers that helped them succeed. After realizing that all the e-mail they received and had to respond to kept them from getting ahead, they gave up on e-mail altogether—and others adjusted. And although they do not encourage us to be that extreme, they do encourage discipline with e-mail and social media and being conscious of where time is spent.

So I need to live life intentionally and unless there is a reason to be in front of my laptop or have my phone near me, to just walk away and instead read those books and/or get that sleep I need. Being aware will hopefully make the resolution stick this time.

Is there something you've been struggling with? If you were more intentional about time spent and choices made, how would it help you overcome the struggle?