I'll be honest. I've never really been one for New Year's resolutions. I could get all high and mighty about how we should be seeking to change for the better no matter the calendar and yadda yadda yadda, but it's not that deep, I just don't do it. I especially don't do it one word (sorry, significant portion of the student affairs twittersphere). But that doesn't mean I'm not looking to change or better myself, and when I get an idea or see an opportunity, I jump on it. Earlier this week, I had one of those times.
We had an open house for our office. It's a program that needs some assessing (but that's a different story for a different day) but the gist was that we had some food set up in the area adjacent to our office to entice people to come in and learn about what we had to offer. Because our office is tucked a good deal out of the way in our student union, our primary traffic was folks for whom we were a destination anyway. At any rate, I was sitting out by the set up for most of the duration, and a coworker of mine took a shift as I ate lunch. When I returned, she shared with me an article from About Campus that she had been reading to pass both to pass the time and because it related to some assessment she's looking to do, and invited me to read it while I sat out in the often empty hallway.
I was hit with a simple truth: I'm often piss-poor about reading in the field, especially if it's not on the computer screen in front of me, and/or hasn't been assigned for a meeting. I resolved--ok, made the decision--right there that I'm going to start setting aside an hour a week for some form of reading in the field or related topics. It doesn't have to be anything in particular, and can be a lowbrow or high-falutin' as I feel like in any given week, but I intend to do it, and I've made the deal that while I can move it if my schedule calls for it, it can only be rescheduled, not canceled.
Today I did it for the first time, and while I'll admit I did a bit of bookshelf channel-surfing before landing on what I was going to spend my time with, but I upheld my bargain--for the most part. I'm easily distractable and a thing or two required my attention during that time, but I think, by and large, I got my hour in. I think I'm better for it, and hopefully will be as it continues.
In related news, I'm well aware that I haven't written anything in here since July. Maybe I should resolve to keep up more, but you know me and resolutions...
