The new year is a time for resolutions.Mentally,at least,most of
us could compile formidable lists of'dos and don'ts'.The same
old favourites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity.
We resolve to get up earlier each morning,eat less,find more time
to play withe children,do a thousand and one jobs about the
house,be nice to people we don't like,drive carefully,and take the
dog for a walk every day.Past experience has taught us that certain
accomplishments are beyond attainment.If we remain inveterate
smokers,it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration
that results from failure.Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement
because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry
them out.We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions
to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into
our bad old ways.Aware of these pitfalls,this year I attempted to keep my
resolutions to myself.I limited myself to two modest ambitions:to do physical
exercises every morning and to read more of an evening.An all-night party
on New Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out
either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year,but on the second,
I applied myself assiduously to the task.
The daily exercises lasted on eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early
in the morning before anyone had got up.The self-discipline required to drag
myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable.Nevertheless,
I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found
me out.After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into
uncomfortable positions,I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition.
It was this that betrayed me.The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch
the performance.That was really unsettling,but I fended off the taunts and jibes of
family good-humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea.However,my
enthusiasm waned.The time spent at exercises gradually diminished.Little by little
the eleven minutes fell to zero.By January 10th,I was back to where I had started
from.I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning,
I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home from work.Resisting the
hypnotizing effect of television,I sat in my room for a few evenings withe my eyes
glue to a book.One night,however,felling cold and lonely,I went downstairs and sat
in front of the television pretending to read.That proved to be my undoing,for I soon
got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen.I still haven't given
up my resolution to do more reading.In fact,I have just bought a book entitled How
to Read a Thousand Words a Minute.Perhaps it will solve my problem,but I just haven't
had time to read it!