New Year Resolutions...Seriously?

I came an article today that took me by surprise. Unrelated to karate, it was about how to keep up new year resolutions. The reason it took me by surprise was that it had been published late in February and I was not expecting to read much about it after January 1st.

I think this highlights quite neatly why I humbly consider the whole concept of new year resolutions utterly ridiculous.The fact there is so much fuss about them in the early weeks of January, with many gyms making the bulk of their money then, and about a month later one does not expect to hear much about them because not much is said about them. It seems to be this idea of setting out to do something, but giving up soon after. I am not criticizing people who do this, I am criticizing the fact it seems to have become a tradition. Because how often do you hear of people sticking to their resolutions in, for example, June. For most, if not all, the answer is never. It seems to be tradition to set yourself a goal and give up on it, not, I gather, with the mentality of being determined no matter what. Even if last year, the goal remained unacheived, people still don't learn from it and do the same thing next December 31st. My Sensei often talks about Einstein's definition of insanity 'repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'.

Although I consider new year resolutions to have very little point, that is not to say I do not apply a similar practice with my Karate sometimes. Usually after a period like Christmas or Easter, where most of us take several days off work or school, I will reflect on how I have been practicing and training, what I need to do more of, gaps in my knowledge that I should research, where I need to alter my mentality, etc... I think it's wise to take the time to look back and evaluate sometimes, just to keep everything 'in proportion' and to know where you stand.

Do I class this as making new year resolutions? No I don't. For a start, I don't just do it in January, but whenever I feel my training and practice becomes disorganized and things need to be reconsidered. I may do it in January if I need to, but with the same mentality of doing it in May. New Year is no better a time to turn over a new leaf than any other point in the year. In fact, one could argue that it's better to avoid turning over a new leaf during the whole 'resolution craze' to avoid falling victim to it. Also, it's small changes and improvements that I normally make, things that are more achievable than the huge goals people often set themselves. If, instead of new year resolutions, once a month we all considered what small changes we could make to better ourselves or the lives of those who are with us on a regular basis, I think that would be more manageable, achievable, productive and therefore less pointless.

It's fair to say that this post is a little off-topic for a blog about karate, but I feel there's an important point to make here about motivation in training. When feeling motivated, it's easy to carry on with karate, but it's an emotion that can't be sustained. So we have to accept that the larger portion of our time training will seem mundane and, at times, it will feel impossible to carry on and that it will be grit determination and a love for what we do that will get us far.