FoshizniK!

We all know that New Year’s Resolutions do not work. And why do we expect that they will?

Let’s face it, half of the time we only make them because we think we should, and come up with a load of half-hearted ideas that we can either accomplish stupidly easily because we already do them – things like “drink a cup of tea at least once a month” – or things that we know are impossible, so we can say “I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have been pissed.”

But what of the ones we actually mean? Well, they fail because we try to do them all at once. You say, “this year I will give up smoking and lose some weight”, but it isn’t specific enough. And as for smoking – well, you can resolve to try, but the latest theory is that it takes seven to ten trys to succeed, so through no fault of your own you are fairly likely to fail.

So my resolutions for 2009 all have dates to achieve them by – except the fags which is a bit more flexible.

• From 1st April onwards, cycle at least 2 miles a day in addition to any commute-cycling
• From 1st February onwards, save at least £20 a week (£80 a month)
• Cut down smoking to less than ten per day by 1st March, with the aim of stopping completely by the end of July
• Get a new, permanent job by 1st April
• If the new job is out of St Neots and requires a car, only use the car for journeys to and from work. Stick to walking or cycling for all other journeys, including to work at Ernulf

I think these are pretty achievable. Let’s see how I do.