{"id":1179,"date":"2013-01-03T15:30:58","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T14:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2013-01-03T15:39:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T14:39:05","slug":"a-time-to-resolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1179","title":{"rendered":"A Time to Re-solve"},"content":{"rendered":"

A very happy New Year!<\/p>\n

It’s that time of the year again where we set goals and objectives and personal New Year’s Resolutions. \u00a0Sure, there are the normal ones about losing weight or taking more exercise or spending more time with loved ones. \u00a0Yet I have been digging a bit deeper this year about the whole process.<\/p>\n

It stems from my two previous New Year’s Resolutions\u00a0Resolutions and Revolutions<\/a>\u00a0in 2011 and\u00a0On Sustaining the Gains (and Losses)<\/a>\u00a0in 2012.<\/p>\n

Both were concerned with my personal weight. \u00a0Each year I have lost a decent amount of weight between January to March (between 7-13 pounds). \u00a0Each year I have put that weight on by the following New Year’s Day. \u00a0As I identified last year, it is not just about losing weight (I reckon I can do that now). \u00a0It’s about keeping it off. \u00a0That is the problem.<\/p>\n

\"LM<\/a><\/p>\n

It is not just my personal resolution of attempted weight-loss that this pattern can be seen. \u00a0As the Guardian<\/a> so cuttingly put it earlier in the year:<\/p>\n

“Failed plans fall into three categories. There are good plans that are poorly executed, as in the blueprint drawn up by Count Alfred von Schlieffen for the invasion of France in 1914. There are strategically bad plans that are well executed, as in Napoleon’s Russian campaign of 1812. And then there’s the coalition government’s deficit reduction plan.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0It got me thinking about the whole word “RESOLUTION<\/span>“. \u00a0Made from the base word “RESOLVE<\/span>” – or “RE-SOLVE”<\/span> or “RE-SOLUITION<\/span>“. \u00a0The idea that we are solving something again (not for the first time). \u00a0That somehow we need to re-solve the problem because the first solution did not work fully the first time around. \u00a0Or we need to re-dissolve the solution, as it were, because the solution was too saturated with whatever it was we were trying to dissolve.<\/p>\n

Yet it is so much more difficult to withdraw than to re-draw. \u00a0Much more difficult to cut-back than keep the status-quo. \u00a0It reminded me of an old military saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all operations of war, a withdrawal under heavy enemy pressure is probably the most difficult and perilous.” <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

On this theme, it is recorded of the great Helmuthe von Moltke the Younger<\/a>, that when he was being praised for his generalship in the Franco-Prussian War, and was told by an admirer that his reputation would rank with such great captains as Napoleon, Frederick, or Turenne, he answered: \u201cNo, for I have never conducted a retreat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So as we see the US apparently fall off the fiscal cliff and the UK economy continuing to groan on with its deficit, the need to resolve to re-solve the problem becomes even greater. \u00a0The solution is in the re-solution. \u00a0That we need to re-think our way through the problem is clear. \u00a0Yet it is unfortunate that the political cycles and systems in the West seem to get in the way of a sensible resolution, a sensible re-solution, a sensible re-think. \u00a0Democracy is stuck.<\/p>\n

So, this year, I resolve to lose weight and find new solutions for keeping the weight off. \u00a0I’m not obese – but I am overweight. \u00a0And being normal weight is where I want to be.<\/p>\n

So here goes for the third year. \u00a0I resolve to be in a different (better) place this time next Year and hit 2014 at 13st 7 lbs. \u00a0No, really!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A very happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again where we set goals and objectives and personal New Year’s Resolutions. \u00a0Sure, there are the normal ones about losing weight or taking more exercise or spending more time with loved ones. \u00a0Yet I have been digging a bit deeper this year about the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Time to Re-solve”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[78,47,80,67,5,40,55,79,65,60,57],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DQGK-j1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2100,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=2100","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":0},"title":"Resolutions and Revolutions","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"01\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"At this time of the year, many of us are accustomed to creating New Year\u2019s Resolutions. If you think hard, I'm sure you can come up with at least half a dozen things you want to achieve this year. Maybe more? Write them down, and hey-presto, there you are! Your\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-01-at-10.01.02.png?fit=738%2C266&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-01-at-10.01.02.png?fit=738%2C266&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-01-at-10.01.02.png?fit=738%2C266&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":379,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=379","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":1},"title":"Resolutions and Revolutions","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"08\/01\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It is the time of year that many of us make New Year's Resolutions. \u00a0As the snows have melted and the weather has warmed, tiny spears of spring-green shoots from the bulbs that I planted in the Autumn are now starting to appear in the garden. It is a time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Change"","block_context":{"text":"Change","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/resolution-revolution.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":815,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=815","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":2},"title":"On Sustaining the Gains (and Losses)","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"05\/01\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You are probably past the point of setting New Year\u2019s resolutions and have forgotten the one you set last year.\u00a0 Yet when you look back a year and look forward a year, it is surprising how little changes and how much stays the same. 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