Swapping Resolutions for This List
I like goals, and I don’t like goals. I like the energy of focusing on improvement and moving forward, and I don’t like letting myself down when I have inevitably overextended or set unrealistic expectations of myself.
In the last sleepy week of December between Christmas and New Year, I opened my journal and decided to make a different kind of list for myself than my normal specific, measured, achievable, realistic, time-sensitive goals (did I get that SMART acronym right??). I started the page with this—
The Best Version Of Myself…
and I wrote down all the things I see me doing as the very best Me. Simple things! The best version of myself flosses every night because my mouth is so much healthier when I do. The best version of myself reads/studies scripture every morning because it helps me feel connected to God’s voice in my life. The best version of myself: practices violin consistently because it brings me joy and I feel accomplished when I do; studies French in an organized way because it would be tragic to lose this gift I have been given; intentionally connects with my husband because I love us and want to stay close and love deeply; fosters relationships with my siblings and parents because we need each other more than I think we really know; runs with purpose; creates magic at home with traditions and adventures; uses social media with purpose…
Really, we all want to be the best version of ourselves. Inevitably there will be days we “wake up on the wrong side of the bed” or fall short, but progress, not perfection, is the whole point.
Last January I studied Atomic Habits, by James Clear with my work family and it’s one of those books that changes you. I’ve thought about it and applied its principles nearly every day since then, and am thinking about it now at the start of a new year again when we are so mindful of changing habits and making them actually stick. One of the principles that I keep thinking about is the one percent rule. This idea was demonstrated in the story of the British cycling team. “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.” (See James Clear, “This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened”
Elder Michael A. Dunn in sharing part of this story concluded that “every effort to change we make—no matter how tiny it seems to us—just might make the biggest difference in our lives.” (“One Percent Better”, Michael A. Dunn, General Conference October 2021.)
The best version of myself is focused on those tiny changes while keeping the big picture in mind this year. My list is copied and hung at my desk so I see it every day and so far, it has helped me make better choices with my time, and that feels good.
What is something you would put on your “Best-Version-Of-Myself” list?
xo
Dayna
