From the Editor’s Desk: Goooal!! (Premium)

It's tempting to try to remake yourself in January. It's not like there's much going on, especially if you live in the northern half of the northern hemisphere like I have my whole life. You're stuck inside because it's too dark and too cold. And so you ruminate on life and think of ways to improve. And then you spend some number of days or maybe weeks trying to be a better person. Or something.

This year, I'm trying something a little different, something that's more in line with what works for me. In my experience, sudden, painful shifts in behavior rarely lead to long-term change. But I sometimes feel like I'm the only one thinking this way. We saw some friends at a niece's birthday party over the weekend and I was surprised to discover they were observing a "dry January." I'm not saying they're alcoholics per se, but I feel like I can drink too much and these people drink much more, and more frequently, than I do. So this surprised me.

Maybe this type of thing is effective for some people, but I know it won't work for me. Indeed, my reaction to "dry January" is almost viscerally negative. It's the same reaction I have to the temporary crowds that make the gym unbearable every January. This is my thing, I think, wondering why there are no open machines. Shouldn't you be at work or something?

OK, I'm venting a little bit, and maybe that's another thing I need to work on. Except I'm not working on anything big, and certainly not because it's January and that's where our minds go. The thing is, I'm always working on something, and one of the things I'm almost always working on is me. Granted, I'm not as dedicated as one of those chiseled "never going to get old" idiots who's convinced that he'll be the genius who figures out that the secret to longevity is. Which I assume is being miserable all the time through some combination of specific eating, working out, and abstaining in all the things that make life special. You almost hope they do find the secret so they can be miserable forever.

No, no. That's not healthy. Perhaps I should meditate and become a better person. Or not, because it's January and I'm not doing that. Stay on target. Instead, I will continue doing what I do all the time, which is making what I think of as micro changes, as necessary. And what I can do this January, because it's not necessarily specific to January, is make micro changes.

Of course, it is January. And there are certain tasks that come up in my life each month, each quarter, and, yes, God help me, each year. And that year does begin in January. So I can get over my aversion to these cold turkey-like changes that half the planet seems to be engaged in right now. And I can engage in some maintenance. Some of this personal, of course. And some of it is work-related. Process-related, perhaps.

I would look this up if I wasn't so tired. (You mean lazy, the back of my brain suddenly nags me, annoyingly.) But at some point in the past, probably...