RESOLUTION ENERGY

It is not totally safe to claim that this New Year’s Resolution stuff is off to a good start.  For one thing, I am sending out this blog entry seven days into the New Year when it was supposed to be completed by the evening of New Year’s Day.  (So much for the resolution that involves keeping up with blog entries.)

But there is yet another resolution that I will try to keep in mind this year.  It is not to be so hard on myself.  It is a good lesson for all of us trying to be a little better who may lapse from time-to-time.  The need to be a little better is something that so many people yearn for and can seem extremely potent for my peers with Asperger’s.  So many of us are suffering and want a better life…or a different life.  Others practically want to become a different person and who am I to lecture them otherwise.  Sometimes it is impossible to accept yourself “the way you are.”  I am not the right person to give advice and often refer to myself as “The Self-Help Guru from Hell.”  On the other hand, I have succeeded in holding down jobs in sensitive environments and have been making a semi-comfortable living as a public orator traveling to exotic cities.  I am still struggling and infantile in many ways, but must have done a few things right to achieve this level of personal/professional success.  Therefore, I am going to give you some of my wisdom that has helped me carve out a life from something that used to resemble a living nightmare.

When struggling to become a little better and maintain New Year’s Resolutions…here are some of my best strategies that will hopefully make the resolutions last beyond a solid week after the New Year.  I have always enjoyed making silly lists because it is the only time when the creative process seems more natural.  Therefore, this blog entry is going to be composed of two lists.  The first list will show you how to maintain that New Year’s Resolution energy.  This is the time of the year when gyms receive a bunch of new memberships from the New Year’s Resolution Crowd.  While your resolutions may not last for twelve month…it would be nice if they made it past a few weeks or else what is the point?

1. Do not make ridiculous or unrealistic resolutions that set you up for failure.  Nobody in humanity has the motivation to give up caffeine unless they are facing eminent health risks and you will NOT perform fifty pushups every morning for the rest of your life!

2. Avoid too many resolutions where success will leave you at the utter mercy of other people.  It is a good goal to find a girlfriend, but keep in mind that the online dating community may prohibit you from achieving such as a resolution regardless of whether you seem to be doing all the right things.

3. If you are going to challenge yourself with difficult resolutions…be sure to schedule a reward for yourself if such resolutions are achieved.  Your prize for losing twelve pounds should be a night away in a luxury hotel even if it has to be by yourself.

4. Prioritize!  The average human being only has so much time, motivation, and resolution energy to go around.  On that note, you must choose the most critical resolutions to tackle before bothering with the small stuff.  If you want to quit your chain smoking or consuming alcohol to drown your demons…this is a little more important than organizing the clutter in your closet.  Go after the resolutions that will dramatically improve your physical and/or mental health.

5. Your motivation will fizzle when you spend too much energy dwelling over momentary failures or being too hard on yourself.  Give yourself the mercy that may not always come from the rest of the world.

Hopefully this will help and I will follow such advice myself.  Anyway…here is a list of my Resolutions and I have faith that at least one will become successful between now and December 31st, 2013.  Making lists is really fun and gives me a blog vacation!

JESSE’S LIST OF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2013

1. Start my e-mails and other tasks no later than 8:00 a.m. to seize the day.

2. Stop going to casinos until I am more flush with disposable income that I can afford to squander.  Find other ways to achieve euphoria.

3. Lose a total of fifteen pounds and keep it off for at least four months.  After losing the weight I will celebrate by arranging a visit to the Holiday Inn in Kingston, NY.

4. Clean the cat’s litter box at least once every single day!

5. Make 2013 the year I write my second book for Penguin Group (USA).  If I continue putting it off then my literary agents and editor will retire and it will be too late!!  After nearly three years since the last book’s publication…it is time.

6. Pay off the nagging debt on my Chase Bank card, which was accrued during my attempt to get myself on the Oprah Show.  This will get myself out of credit card debt forever.  Lesson learned…time to move forward.

7. Part of being a public figure is allowing my younger peers to shine.  For all of my future speeches, I want a child with Asperger’s to open my presentation by performing a talent like singing.  It is not all about me and applause must be delegated toward others.

8. I have suffered dearly for the immaturity seven years ago during my careers in the Teaching and Human Service field.  Consequences without the trace of redemption only spells out doom.  Regardless of my current successes in different avenues of my life, I need to get back those careers to some capacity and prove that I have changed enough to earn another chance.  Perhaps what I am trying to say is that success is often achieved by knowing you have something to offer and occasionally other people will listen.

9. Follow a “clean as you go” mentality as opposed to waiting until my room and bathroom have become a toxic waste dump that forces me to clean in one explosion of energy.

10. Write at least one blog entry a week and update my Skype equipment so I may post future entries on YouTube!

Hopefully this is a good start and let me know how you are doing with your own lists!