You’ll be pleased to know, I did, in fact, successfully keep my June resolution. I also increased Bill’s life insurance policy, and make no promises of a similar nature for July.

Just kidding.

I didn’t really change his life insurance policy.

This month, I resolve to spend at least 5 minutes every weekday straightening my desk. On a good day, my desk looks like this. I’m tired of it.

I was going to resolve to spend 15 minutes every day on it. But I try to keep things realistic. Not every day, I thought. Not the weekends. Okay, weekdays.

Not fifteen minutes, I argued. Surely ten is fine. No, wait, if I do it every weekday, surely five is more than sufficient.

Besides, I can have high standards, and fail…or low standards and succeed. And this month, I’m in need of some low standards. Five minutes a weekday it is.

Of course, federal holidays are excluded.

What is a New Month’s Resolution? Every month I look at where I need to focus my attention. Perhaps I’ve been procrastinating on certain chores. Perhaps I need to spend some extra time with one or more of the kids. Perhaps I’d like to try a new habit. New Month’s Resolutions are not grandiose plans to lose ten pounds or declutter the entire house or give up smoking (of course, I don’t smoke, but if I did, this would not be the venue in which I would give it up). New Month’s resolutions are short-term commitments; they are easily attained goals; they focus on what is needed right now, instead of what is best for a lifetime.

Do you have a new month’s resolution?