New Year, New Resolutions?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published January 9, 2014. 

Happy New Year!

I am back from a holiday induced blogging break and excited to share updates and insights in 2014.  If you’re like most people I know, you’ve got a list of resolutions for the new year.  Some of them may even be professional in nature, related to HR.  I heard a very cool sentiment about resolutions recently that I think has relevance to all of us who live, in large or small part, in the world of employment law compliance and human resources. Every year hundreds of millions of people make resolutions for the upcoming twelve months. Two weeks in, the vast majority have already given up. Two months in, the numbers are even more striking. Why is this?  We tend to set lofty goals, often with no concrete plan in place on how to achieve them.

So what’s a better way?

Instead of making a set of aspirational resolutions that have virtually no chance of being realized, view each day as an opportunity to be the you you want to be. Each new day is an opportunity.  It’s not something that only happens once a year, on January 1st.  Each and every day presents us with the chance to, as the saying goes, “be the change you wish to see.”

In other words, bring the profound into the mundane (and what can be more mundane than getting up in the morning and heading to the office, again?). Putting this into action, if you want to be in a more respectful work environment, act more respectfully.  Put out there that which you wish to see.

So that’s my resolution. No resolutions. Just a willingness to see opportunities for growth and development all the time, throughout the year.  For me, that means (among other things) constantly being on the lookout for interesting and relevant topics, cases, and ideas to share with my readers.

Here’s to a successful and respectful new year.