GREAT resolutions for February

Like everyone else in America at the end of January, I am so over my resolutions. But, unlike everyone else in America at the end of January, I have a fresh set waiting in the wings! Here’s the final masterpiece of New Life Planning:

• Goal: Be able to do 10 push-ups by the end of the month.
• Rule: Clean for 15 minutes every day (possibly excepting my birthday).
• Errand: Apply for a passport.
• Adventure: Try workouts from several different online strength programs.
• Theme: “44.” Planning to turn 44, walk/run 44 miles, and give 44 things to charity.

February shouldn’t be a hugely busy work month for me, so I decided to make this set of resolutions a bit more challenging and sneak a few more rule-ish elements into my Theme. That (along with the fact that we really have let the house go a bit lately) helped me to finally settle on what I’ve come to think of as the “15-minute maid” concept as my official Rule. And I’ve replaced “Appreciation” with “Adventure”—which is my shorthand for trying something new.

My main goal in putting these together was to choose things I might not have done otherwise but will be really happy about once they’re done. I guess that’s the very definition of a resolution, but it’s still been helpful for me to think of them that way. Having done January’s stuff makes me kind of happy, but I gave much more thought to February, so I hope it will be even better.