Resolutions for a Bitch of a New Year

2009 promises to be a real bitch as we and those we love struggle with lost jobs, foreclosed homes and diminished dreams. With these cruel truths in mind, here's four resolutions that all of us can make to better weather the storm.
1. Look at the world with more realism: So that we're better prepared for the body blows to come. As billionaire Charlie Munger says, "More important than the will to win, is the will to prepare. To do that, be practical and become a better observer. 'Be a well not a fountain', in other words -- shut up and listen more. And be discriminating about whom you listen to -- Warren Buffett not Alan Greenspan! Also, there are always those around you who have valuable information for you. Be alert to those good souls who need to communicate with you about your work, your future.
2. Learn to face up to responsibility and handle more stress: Take small but continuous steps to shoulder more of the work that your boss, employees, customers and clients need you to shoulder. Doing so will make you more valuable and less expendable. Recognize that competition makes the world go around and that you and your team will step up the competition... or they will step on you. Shake up your team.
3. Turn off the *#@~`! TV. Regularly shut off the media. Drive home without the radio on. Once a week, go for a long walk in the woods or on the beach -- somewhere away from the open sewer of advertising and pitchmen. The great psychologist Abraham Maslow called it "resisting enculturation". Recognize that so much of our commercial culture's messages are designed to sell -- not just products and services but images of your self. They pollute your thinking and rob you or your originality. Resist them.
4. Build Independence and personal autonomy. Believe what former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley believes: That the externals of your life ought to reflect the internals. Find time to be still and reflect on where you (and your partner) are in your life and where you want to be. Seek more experiences that excite and delight you. Remember what the great professor of comparative religion, Joseph Campbell counseled, "It is not so much the meaning of life that we seek, but the experience of being alive." If you regularly pursue your own, individual life goal, you will not only feel more alive, you may even feel the rapture of aligning your soul with your goal.
Heads up and hearts open into 2009.