New Year, New Resolution

Previously, I outlined my knitting resolutions. Today, I’m going all-out with the boredom factor to detail my one and only personal resolution (aside from getting a new job).

Resolution: Stop drinking so much soda*.
Odds of succeeding: nil.

Merriam Webster defines resolution as:

1. The act or process of resolving.
2. The subsidence of a pathological state.
3. Something that is resolved.

No wonder most resolutions fail. Goodness, what is a resolution but crossing your arms, stomping your foot and saying, ‘There. I fixed it.’ There. I stopped drinking soda. Except no, I haven’t.

Resolution is such a vague term that this year I’m going to use the much more apt terminology of goal setting.

Now setting a goal can also spell trouble. However, I am flush with incite into goals. In scientific teaching, we say that a goal is something with a measurable outcome. Revisiting my Resolution, I need to add some component that I can quantify. For example:

Goal: I will drink soda only when at a restaurant.
Measurable component: I can count the number of times I buy soda in the grocery store or a vending machine on campus.

That’s very nice, you might say. Let’s call it a day. Unfortunately, I don’t know how or when I’ll get to that goal. At the dojo, we say that a goal is a resolution with a written plan and deadline. Once again, let’s revisit that Resolution, now a Goal.

Goal: I will drink soda only when at a restaurant.
Step 1: I will not buy soda at the grocery store. This means no cans or bottles AND it means no 99 cent cups at the checkout counter. Deadline: January 1, 2010.
Step 2: I will buy no more than one soda from a vending machine in any given week. This means I will need to bring something from home – likely water or iced tea. Deadline: March 1, 2010.
Step 3: I will buy no soda from vending machines. Deadline: May 1, 2010.

The astute reader will notice that one deadline has passed. I am holding steady after 1 shopping trip and successfully resisted purchasing either a case of soda or a cup of soda at the checkout. I feel okay about this knowing I can still buy a bottle of soda at work, if I need to. I’ve got some time to survey my beverage options (are Margaritas okay at work? No? Are you sure?), make sure I’ve got proper vessels for transport and get past those withdrawal headaches.

There you have it. My over-analyzed, three-step program for kicking the soda habit.

*You should know that I am ashamed to admit that when I first typed this, I used pop instead of soda.