New Year's Resolutions Are A Lousy Substitute To Caring

January 10, 2013 Antonio Ortiz

We all have an idea we've been meaning to execute on, but how can we really make it happen? In this highly original, all-ages talk at the 99 Conference, illustrator Rilla Alexander walks us through this classic creative struggle by sharing the story of Sozi - an adorable character who walks us through the arc of an idea. She daydreams, she procrastinates, she sets deadlines, she gets tempted by new ideas, she buckles down and works hard - and finally - she realizes "Her Idea." 1:15 - The start of an idea 1:45 - "I can't work with anything hanging over my head…" 2:54 - "Finally. I put pencil to paper. ..and Im confronted by the mediocrity of my idea" 4:10 - What about all those other ideas? 5:03 - Five years pass… 5:30 - "I begin to hate my idea, its a huge weight of unfulfilled expectations" 6:05 - "I give up. But then, it happened…" 6:50 - I love this idea again 7:10 - Deadlines force me to have realistic expectations, "Instead of focusing on how wonderful it is, I focus on getting it done" 8:00 - How to execute your idea 8:41 - Dreaming up ideas is fun, but that's only the tip of the iceberg 9:29 - Without the doing the dreaming is useless 9:55 - Set boundaries 10:11 - Let the idea take control 10:55 - Theres always another idea that looks better. But thats because I'm not working on it. I haven't seen its flaws and failures 11:25 - Don't give up. Don't cripple it with self-doubt 12:09 - It's a lot of work, but much more satisfying than procrastinating 12:30 - Rila reads "Her Idea" About Rilla Alexander Rilla Alexander is an Australian-born Berlin-based designer and illustrator. Her cast of creatures dance across Madrid's Museo del Prado's ceramics and stationery products, populate Swiss Credit Cards for Cornér Bank and sleep on the walls of Hotel Fox in Copenhagen (where she replaced the bed with a tent). As a member of design collective Rinzen, she has published several books exploring the creative process. The felt-covered book Neighbourhood featured the collaborative efforts of over 30 artists reworking and remaking hand-made toys in a sequence that stretched across the world. Her all-ages picture book, Her Idea, was launched with an exhibition at Colette in Paris — and tells the tale of her alter-ego Sozi and her quest to make ideas happen.

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.

A letter from Mark Twain to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, January 1863. ( via Exp.lore.com)

We are now reaching that point of the year where resolutions made have begun to fade, giving way to the ease and comfort of routines that accommodate for realities lived. In the past couple of weeks I've seen family, friends, colleagues, all intelligent and capable in their own ways, surrender to the shortcut for caring that is New Year's resolutions.

Making resolutions is a way of pretending, of fooling ourselves into thinking that we are taking steps towards becoming a better version of ourselves. Resolutions are a dream.

See that video up there? That is Australian-born Berlin-based designer and illustrator Rilla Alexander, at the 99u conference, brilliantly exemplifying the simple truth that without the doing, dreaming is useless.

We all have an idea we want to execute on and yet don't know how to begin. Take the time to figure out what that idea is. What do you really want? Really. Think it through. Pursue it.

What do you care about?

I don't mean what you tell yourself you care about, I mean what you actually care about. You know, that thing that takes the most of your time. Take a close look at your week, and whatever takes the most of your time, be it email, Facebook, Twitter, meetings, family, friends, working out, television, video games, work and so on, that is what you care about. That is what you are making a priority every day.

Is that time-consuming thing what you really want? If it is, then it is time to really focus on it and give it the attention it deserves. If it is not, then it is time to change.