Resolution
Here we are at the end of another year, at the end of another decade. No doubt your newsfeeds are filling with lists of Best Of 2019 and collections of reminiscences of everything that's come about in the course of this year. And, somewhere buried in the middle of that virtual pile of nostalgia, is a vague notion that you ought to be making a New Year's Resolution.
That's all well and good; people have been making new year's resolutions for several thousand years, at least, and having one in mind can make you feel more productive and centered. But, not for nothing, I hate them.
It's the word resolution itself that really bothers me, I think. We tend to use it interchangeably with goal; but, in fact, its meaning is closer to decision and/or solution than goal. If you were to ask me to write out the meaning of resolution, it might look like this definition from Mirriam-Webster: the action of solving a problem or dealing with a disagreement in a satisfactory way.
I don't need that kind of pressure, thanks. The past two decades have seen a rise in productivity guru-ism that counsels us all to be as productive as possible for as long as possible. To have goals and to make them reasonable and actionable. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. I've often said that I have goals rather than resolutions and I have all the apps and notebooks and systems in place and I get things done. And, truthfully, I still think all that productivity-ism works when talking about a specific project.
But, this year I want something different. I don't need a new goal. All the old ones are still there and I'm still plugging away at them with all the aforementioned apps and notebooks and systems. Instead, I'm going to actually make a resolution, but I'm doing it with this definition from Cambridge Dictionary in mind: a promise to yourself to do or to not do something.
If for no other reason, I like this idea because a promise, unlike a goal, can be vague and personal and be wholly up to oneself. If we've learned that goals should be easily stated and achievable, then a promise to ourselves can be vague and illogical and poorly defined.
Every week, I close this newsletter with my own combination benediction and exhortation, distilled down from twenty years of productivity guru-ism and self-help books: stay strong, stay curious. Learn something.
And that's my resolution. Good luck; happy new year.
Origin:
From Etymology Online:
late 14c., "a breaking into parts," from Old French resolution (14c.) or directly from Latin resolutionem (nominative resolutio) "process of reducing things into simpler forms," from past participle stem of resolvere "loosen" (see resolve). Sense of "a solving" (as of mathematical problems) first recorded 1540s, as is that of "power of holding firmly" (compare resolute). Sense of "decision or expression of a meeting" is from c. 1600. Meaning "effect of an optical instrument" is from 1860. New Year's resolution in reference to a specific intention to better oneself is from at least the 1780s, and through 19c. they generally were of a pious nature.
Notable Events of 2019:
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Sidetracks (1):
These days, we often speak of resolution of a different kind, which is the amount of light and signal that all our various screens are capable of showing, but I was kind of fascinated to learn that Mirriam-Webster includes these other definitions for resolution:
the passing of a voice part from a dissonant to a consonant tone or the progression of a chord from dissonance to consonance
the separating of a chemical compound or mixture into its constituents
the division of a prosodic element into its component parts
the analysis of a vector into two or more vectors of which it is the sum
Furthering that, I found it interesting that Collins Cobuild Dictionary separates its definition into both countable, uncountable, and singular nouns:
If you make a resolution, you decide to try very hard to do something.
Resolution is determination to do something or not do something.
The resolution of a problem or difficulty is the final solving of it.
Sidetracks (2):
This newsletter's original remit was to talk about learning. In light of that, here are some lists of interesting things we learned this year:
Next time: 20/20! That's it. Stay strong, stay curious. Learn something.