Hockey and Resolutions

As a Los Angeles Kings fan, I have become an aficionado of failure. The last-place Kings have been trying everything to climb out of the basement. One of the sentiments I see repeatedly in articles and blogs is this: Don’t focus on winning the game, focus on winning the little fights that make up a game.

You have to keep your mind in the moment. You can’t be thinking about the goal you want to score as soon as you get the puck out of your defensive zone; you have to be thinking smaller and more immediate. Win this face-off. Win this battle for the puck. Make this pass. Connect. Check. Skate hard. It’s the tiny battles that win or lose a game.

I’m good at making big resolutions: I will write a novel this year, I will exercise more, I will eat better, I will be better about corresponding with my friends. But the battleground isn’t just January 1st and December 31st, it’s all the anonymous days in between. It’s about waking up in the morning, trying to decide whether to go jogging or just drink coffee, and choosing to run.

This year, I will be making “microresolutions.” Every morning when I wake up, I will resolve to do one thing during the day that requires a battle, one thing that requires strength of will.

Instead of writing a novel, I will “write one more scene” or “write 500 words.” Instead of “being better about correspondence,” I will “Call Sally today,” or “Get my inbox down to 5.” I will try to win the tiny, everyday fights… or at least win them more than I lose them. Let’s see if the Los Angeles Kings can do the same.

Today’s microresolution: Post a “Hockey and Resolutions” journal entry. (I’m so meta!)