(Estimated reading time 2 minutes)

This time of the year often has me reviewing the past and thinking about the things I hope to improve in the upcoming year. My resolutions often revolve around things like eating healthy, losing weight, exercising more and being more spiritually disciplined. These are all good resolutions and sometimes I am successful – I actually read through the whole Bible this  year – most times I am not.

This year I’m changing things a bit. I’m focusing on the end – the big picture, what I ultimately want from my life – by asking myself this question:  When you are 95 years old, what will you want to say about your life? 

At  the end of your life, where will you wish you had put your energy, spent your time? It’s a big question – a difficult one. I find that I like the sound of it more than I actually like trying to figure it out.

At first it had me feeling a little overwhelmed and almost turning back to things like eating healthy, exercising regularly and watching less TV – there’s nothing wrong with these resolutions, they’re good. It’s just that they don’t seem to carry enough weight  in the moment when I’m thinking about eating badly, watching another episode on Netflix or postponing that workout until tomorrow.

Then I realized that I do better when I see the end – it gives me stronger motivation in the moment of choice. I worked hard at keeping my resolutions simple and short so I’ll remember them easily in the decision moments of every day. So here they are:

• MAKE TIME FOR THOSE WHO MATTER TO YOU (for me that includes time with God and with people)
•  MAKE A COURAGEOUS CONTRIBUTION (I’ll need to make choices about time spent, health and personal growth here)

I’ll let you know if these new kind of resolutions help me make the every day choices I’m looking for. Here’s to living with clarity, courage, compassion and confidence in 2018!