I’m not big on resolutions.

Well, what I should say is that I’m not big on following through with resolutions. A year is a long time, and the fact that I’ve usually forgotten my resolutions by the end of January is a good sign I’m not going to stick with them through the end of the year.

This time, instead of going forward with my usual carefully constructed plan for failure, I’ve resolved(!) to set smaller, more achievable goals, to be tackled within smaller, easier-to-keep-track-of amounts of time. Rather than big, sweeping lifestyle changes (cut out junk food! make the bed every single day! learn to basketweave!), I’m aiming for more modest targets, ones that will hopefully, over the coming year (and maybe the rest of my life), add up to an overall sense of success and well-being instead of a dark cloud of dissatisfaction and failure. (Not that you can be that disappointed in botching your resolutions when you can’t even remember what they were, but you know what I mean.)

Because there are so many working parts to my life, I’m also setting up a kind of framework that will hopefully allows me plenty of room to have little victories in many different areas (and a few cop-outs as well). At the wise old age of thirty-three and a half, I’ve realized that doing well in one part of my life (say, office work) doesn’t always make up for feeling less-than in other parts (say, housework), ad so setting one small goal per month in each major category of my life will, in theory, help me get closer to that ideal state of balance and fulfillment. Besides, when you have a whole bunch of resolutions (seven per month times twelve months) instead of just one or two for the whole year, chances are better that even if I don’t have a perfect record, I’ll certainly have plenty to celebrate with champagne next December 31.

My goals list for January looks something like this:

Career: Send a resume and cover letter to at least one new potential freelance client.

Home: Bake an avocado pie. (I’ve never even tried one, but I’ve always been intrigued, and I love small goals that are also delicious.)

Social: Throw a good birthday party for my husband.

Marriage: Have an at-home date night at least once a week. (Something that involves actual conversation instead of just plopping down in front of a movie.)

Motherhood: Read a chapter book with my older son, just the two of us.

Fitness: Exercise at least 15 days in January.

Hobby: Put together one photo book for a gift.

Are you a big-resolution maker or a small-resolution maker? What are some of your goals for 2013?

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