Enduring Resolutions
For a variety of reasons I ease into my annual reset in February. I’m back from Europe and jet-lagged. So I wake up early, try to be productive, take tea over coffee and give up drinking for a month. In the ungodly early hour before the sun comes up I was thinking about habits for the new year. Nothing major but useful and, I think, enduring. I was preparing this when New York Magazine released their hilarious and very useful guide about how to behave now.
This is not so comprehensive but still worthwhile. And I’m trying to follow them too.
-Arrive Early. Or at the very least on time. Late arriving is itself a habit and few people think of themselves as late arrivers. But they are known to friends, with their endless excuses. Make being early a practice. Years ago, I met a well-known writer and he was always in the cafe or club before I got there, working comfortably in his notebook. I tried to beat him and arrive even sooner and never did. Finally he confided that he was a serial early arriver. He would come early and write or sometimes read. This time before his friend arrived felt especially free and oddly like a gift. Try it.