Today marks the half-way mark of 2017!

Did you set New Year’s resolutions? How are you doing in the first six months?

For many of us, annual resolutions are too much commitment. Jackie Mellem of the One and Done blog recently wrote about setting resolutions on the solstices.

The solstices seem like a good time to assess, take stock and plan what the next six months hold. It’s kind of like a new year resolution for commitment-phobes. After all, there’s only a 6-month stint involved instead of a year.

If you like the idea of half-year resolutions, July 1 is another perfect opportunity! (It’s also Canada Day up here where we’re celebrating 150 years since Confederation. And it’s 20 years since I proposed to my wife Laura while celebrating Canada Day on Parliament Hill).

For me, even half-year resolutions are too long. I wrote last month about my first attempt at setting monthly resolutions and tracking them daily in my bullet journal.

How did I do?

I set five daily resolutions for myself in June (you can read about them here) and had varying success. I did well at publishing blog posts (24/30 days) and exercising (23/30) but less well at the resolutions I had set for social media (13/30) and writing my kidney transplant book (10/30). But that’s okay; I’m focused on progress, not perfection.

I did learn a few things in my first month of setting and tracking resolutions:

1. For five days in June, I was travelling with family to a meetup with other families of children with GRIN1, the same rare genetic condition of my son Bryson. During this time, it wouldn’t have been fair to my family to insist on so much alone time for my resolutions. It’s important to build these major events into our expectations when setting daily resolutions.
2. Similarly, it was harder to achieve my resolutions on the weekends, when I felt it was important to prioritize family time. This month, I’m setting goals for how many times per week I want to achieve each resolution.
3. Even during a period as short as a month, it’s important not to feel locked in to resolutions. Successful people pivot according to opportunities or challenges that arise.
4. Finally, I made a conscious choice to focus on goals that were mostly about me for the first month. For July, I’m adding goals about how I relate to the most important people in my life.

What about you? When do you set your resolutions? What have you learned about what it takes to be successful when setting them?