When I asked if she had been good children at school, my kindergartner (right) replied that she had been,
just a little bit good.
In that spirit, this post is dedicated to virtue in moderation when it comes to New Year's Resolutions. The key point to make about such resolutions is that essentially no one keeps them. So instead of convincing yourself to eat kale instead of cheeseburgers which will end in 1) eating cheeseburgers anyway but 2) not enjoying it while 3) hating yourself, just assume that you are more or less the way that you are and are going to be. You won't change… much. But it is realistic to take your current lot in life and tweak it just a bit. It is possible to be just a little bit good.
Tax Tweak
I have had countless elaborate schemes to relocate to the third world for tax purposes nixed by the longsuffering wife. Fine, but even if you are not ready to expatriate, at least you can cross nearby state borders to exploit lower income tax rates.
Particularly convenient borders to cross include Vermont into New Hampshire and New York into Connecticut.
Schedule Tweak
Grab lunch 15 minutes earlier each day. If you go at 11:45 each day, over the course of a year you will save a massive amount of time over going at noon.
Budget Tweak
Cheap cars make more sense, but life is short and does not always make sense. Drive whatever you like. But drive it into the ground. The best deal on the road is after five or ten years once it has been thoroughly depreciated. (The same goes for shoes - even good ones are not a terrible expense if you keep them for many years).
Exercise Tweak
The biggest excuse for getting too little exercise is having too little time. Fine. But knock out fifty push-ups and fifty sit ups before each time you shower. You are not so busy that you can't.
Conclusion
Just modify your routine in 2016 with a few achievable tweaks that you will be able to stick with all year. Instead of reaching for perfection and quitting by Valentine's Day, just be a little bit good.