So here we are: 2006. Feels the same as 2005, actually. The view outside my window hasn't changed. The kids still want to stay up past their bedtime. The cat still purrs when I stroke its head. And thank god for all that... So what was all the fuzz about? Perhaps we simply need a reason to give ourselves a fresh start every now and then. To pull ourselves together and get going again. New year's resolutions fit perfectly into this picture. Personally, I have decided to no longer make new year's resolutions. But when I come to think of it: there is a degree of intention in that decision, isn't there? So that would be a new year's resolution in itself. In other words: we cannot not make new year's resolutions, can we?
Still, I have not decided to give up smoking. I do not intend to lose weight. Or to practise more sports. Or to pay more attention to the little things in life. Or to love my wife and kids more than I did last year. I wouldn't even know how. Does love come in degrees? No idea. Anyway: I think I'll just go with the flow. That is probably what most people do, actually, once the daily grind sets back in.
Perhaps that is also part of the answer to the question Seth Godin asked himself on his blog recently. If he's right about anything, it's about the fact that people do not care about marketing, or about marketeers. Or on another level: they do not care about web 2.0, about RSS, about Firefox, about... Why not? Because they don't need it. The average person on this planet (should he exist) has other worries. Even the average person who does not live in the third or fourth world. Marketeers might think they can convince people they have a need they didn't know they had (sometimes they even succeed in doing so), but most of the times people could not care less. And they're right. Okay, I enjoy blogging and reading other people's blogs. I'll even try to do more of that this year (oops, does that sound like a new year's resolution to you?). But I don't need to. I could start using Squidoo lenses, deli.cio.us bookmarks, Technorati tags and god knows what else. But I am not going to. Probably. Or perhaps I will. I don't know. Yet.
Here's the deal: let's just not want too much this year. How's that for a... yes, I know. All the best for 2006!
Ah but you *must* use del.icio.us! It's one of the best research tools I ever use. So handy!
Posted by: Stephen Davies | January 02, 2006 at 05:45 PM
OK, Stephen, I'll think about it. But only because you say I should ;-).
Posted by: Serge Cornelus | January 03, 2006 at 02:50 PM