New Year's Resolution: Do Stuff Wrong

This was my single resolution last New Year. (True story.) I was so successful at it that I thought I would try it again.

I may just make that my life's mantra.

Folks, I think we've been going about this "resolution" thing all wrong. We keep demanding perfection, success, a winning attitude. I say the opposite: demand failure. We're going to fail anyway, so why not fail in a way that shows success. Make failure the goal, then you'll win. See where I'm going with this one?

It's so easy to let the ideal of perfection prevent us from even getting started. We freeze up. We might say, "I won't do it unless/until I know I can do it perfectly." Wrong. Instead, say, "There's no way I'm getting this right." Nothing to lose, baby. Nothing. To. Lose.

(Unless you actually still have some dignity left, then, well, yeah, you do have something to lose. I guess I should specify that this approach works for people who waved bye-bye to dignity years ago--you know like when you clumsily fell off your bike while wearing a skirt, giving more than just a peek at what you've got on underneath--wink, wink--or when you, while on a packed city bus abroad, tripped on your language skills and yelled out what translates as "the little virgin!!" or when strangers who moonlight in maternity wards recognize you best not by your face, but by your . . . ahem, well, you get the point--I almost said, "you get the picture," but . . . I think in this situation, "point" is probably better.)

Uh . . . moving on. You then realize, "That's true--there is nothing to lose." So, you shrug your shoulders and do it. You take that first step. Do you do it perfectly? Nope. You screw it up. But, you did something.

And that's something.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Wait. For that sentence to be grammatically correct (and therefore perfect), it should read: "Now that is the thing about which I am talking."

See? That rephrasing shows that sometimes "perfect" is just plain wrong and wrong is somehow right. Right?

Folks, what I guess I'm saying in all this is that my green-living mission to save the world fails, everyday. But, I'm doing it anyway. Why? Because I'm a hopeful optimist who has great faith that a bright and cheery future awaits me as long as I keep doing things wrong.

What thing will you do wrong today?