Back | Up | Next

Conversations in Management

New Year 2008

Behind every New Year's resolution is a tiny spark of hope.

Sure you want to lose weight. Of course you want to find love while increasing your net worth. And who doesn't want to be a better person? But no matter what the resolution, it's really all about hope.

Hope is one of those amazing qualities of the human spirit that embodies a multitude of interconnected feelings and aspirations. It includes the steady traits of patience and perseverance. It holds the excitement of anticipation and the promise of fulfillment. It’s entirely positive. While it may be rooted in a longing for things to get better, it’s just as likely to reflect the thrill of moving from one peak experience to another. Whatever its motive, hope is unfailingly optimistic and rooted in the confident expectation that the possible will become the actual.

New Years is the holiday of hope. It’s the day that commemorates fresh starts and new beginnings. Though a public holiday, it’s uniquely individual. There’s no common tradition (Rose Parade, black-eyed peas and football aside) or cultural focal point. It’s ultimately about your fresh start and your new beginning. It’s your own articulation of hope that matters—your own vision of where you’d like to be 364 days down the road. That hope is usually expressed in the much maligned New Year’s resolution.

Cynics are quick to point out the most resolutions evaporate faster than a puddle in the Sahara. They point out that gyms, packed on January 2, have no waiting lines on February 2. They slyly note that the forlorn pastry carts of the first of the year are back in robust service long before the first bluebonnets make their appearance. In short, they do their best to extinguish that small spark of hope that we so bravely embraced as we bade farewell to last year. Unfortunately, we’re forced to acknowledge that their pessimism is based on unhappy fact. In reality, we all too easily lose sight of our New Year’s goal and in the process surrender the hope that accompanied it. But here’s where the Daruma doll can help us out.

The Daruma doll is a round, self-righting, papier-mâché representation of Dharma; the son of the patriarch who introduced Zen Buddhism to Japan. The doll has no arms or legs because, as the story goes, after nine years of intense meditation, these appendages atrophied and fell off. A weighted bottom lets the doll right itself if tipped over, reflecting the Japanese proverb, “Nana korobi, ya oki,” or for us English speakers, “Knocked down seven times, bounce back eight.” Thus, the dolls are symbols of both patience and perseverance. But they have one other unique feature—they come without eyes. Instead you paint one eye on the doll when you make a resolution and paint in the other when your resolution is fulfilled. The belief is that the Daruma’s one-eyed focus will serve as a visual reminder not to give up hope that you can reach your goal. Seems like a pretty good idea.

Whether you call it kibou, esperanza, håbe, hopen, esperança or espérance, it’s still hope and it’s the motivating spark that can make this year better than last. So like the Daruma doll, keep your eye on the goal, bounce back from the inevitable adversity and look forward to fulfilling those resolutions. Here’s hoping for the best!

—Ebert