One goal, one resolution and one I don't know

Well, it's the new year, and that means a new set of resolutions. This year, I have three resolutions, one of which is is a goal, one of which is a resolution, and one of which is a vague sort of an idea, but not really.

The first one is a goal: to discard one item every day for a year. "Discard" in this sentence doesn't mean throw away into the garbage so much as remove an item from my house. I have termed this resolution Days of Gone and added a link there up in the navigation menu. My description of this resolution and ground rules on my tracking pages are:

In an effort to be rid of the clutter and accumulation of stuff in my life, I decided that 2010 would be a year of clearing, a year of cleansing. Each day, I'm getting rid of an item, with a few ground rules:

1. Each item must leave the house, putting it in a box to "donate later" doesn't count.
2. For items being discarded, putting it into the trash is sufficient. For donated items, the item must actually leave the house.
3. There's no banking or pre-discarding items: if I discard two items on one day, I don't have a free day the next day.
4. Vacation days are the exception: I can bank items for vacation days, I still need to discard items for those days.

So, that's the goal. Get rid of crap.

The resolution is be like Joshua Greenough. When I told this resolution to Kris, he looked at me funny, so I explained. When I was helping Heather move to the City and we had forgotten the key to her new place, I called the various people I knew in the City (yes, yes, all of them are ultimate players, why do you ask?), trying to track down one of her roommates. We figured out that one of them worked with Joshua, and hey, I happened to have his phone number from when we both worked/volunteered at/with the UPA, he as college director, I as whipping boy, and so called to ask if he could find Chuck, Heather's new roommate. He said he'd look for Chuck and call me back.

A few minutes later, Chuck called Heather and made arrangements for the two of us to drive over to pick up Chuck's key for Heather to use. On our drive over, my phone rang. Since I was driving, I handed it to Heather. Joshua was on the line. He commented that he had found Chuck and asked him to call Heather. I don't know if he knew that Heather and I were in the truck together, but I heard him say that he said he would call me back, so he was calling me back.

And THAT was the moment that I knew I wanted to be like Joshua.

He had done what I asked, he had found Chuck and asked him to call Heather. He had also done what he said he would do, he called me back. He didn't really need to do that, as Chuck had talked to me. Joshua may have known that, he may have left the situation at that, that Chuck would call, he was out of the situation. Except he didn't just leave it at that. He followed through. He said he was doing to call me back, without leaving any qualifiers such as he'd call back if he could or couldn't find Chuck, and he did. He called me back. That follow-through, that "I do what I say I'm going to do," that is what I want to be like with EVERYTHING in my life. Andy is similar. When he says yes, he means yes. I like both of these aspects of these men's personalities.

So, that's the resolution. Be like Joshua.

The last one is vague sort of notion with the all-consuming project. The vagueness is more having not put it into words than not actually being able to articulate it well. It boils down to giving the project my all, even if I do fail. It's still unclear in its edges, but I want to be true to the project, to really try, to give up the safe route and jump both feet first because it's a product I believe in. If only I can get my thoughts out and into javascript and jquery sufficiently for it to work.

And that's what I have for 2010: cleanse, follow-through and be true.

One you can follow, one you can call me on and one you can see blossom in a week.