With resolution season coming up this week, it might be a good idea to review the rules* of good resolution-making:
- Make it specific. “Be a better person” is a noble goal, but it’s a bit vague. In what way do you want to be better? More grateful? Less critical?
- Make it measurable. “Be a better person” is also tough to measure. However, “listing three things I’m grateful for each day” is easy to track.
- Challenge vs. Attainability. This is a tricky balance. Something that can be achieved by February is not a great goal, but if a slow start makes the goal unreachable by February, that’s no better. A good resolution keeps you motivated, but doesn’t but doesn’t beat you down with its level of difficulty.
- Keep it within your control. “Publish a novel” is nice, but a lot of that process is out of your hands. Instead, try “finish a novel and submit to 20 publishers.” It’s not really your goal if someone else can keep you from reaching it.
- Focus on process. That last example, “finish a novel,” can seem overwhelming in the early stages. “Write a thousand words a week” might be preferable. Focus on the process and the product will (often) take care of itself.
Säje (rhymes with beige) is an ensemble of four singers/composers/arrangers who all had successful solo careers before deciding to assemble, Voltron-like, as a quartet shortly pre-pandemic. While the pandemic cancelled many of their early shows, it didn’t inhibit their creativity. They’ve also released several beautifully arranged covers, including one of a song we featured way back in week 16. “Desert Song” – their first original release – was nominated for a Grammy, and as debuts go, is just about as stunning as it gets.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. It’s not a song about making resolutions, but the lyrics can be read as a bit of a parable about setting the wrong goals: I bet when you reach the ocean / Can’t wait to sink your toes into the sand / Instead you will sink into the ocean / And watch your heart move slowly from your hands.
2. The instrumentation is just enough to support the voices. It would have been easy to add a string quartet to this track, but that probably would have ruined it.
3. The vocals are like New Year’s fireworks: the four voices frequently begin lines in unison before splitting off into flickering harmonies at the tail end of the line.
Recommended listening activity:
Reading your resolutions out loud while locking pinkies with yourself.
*These rules are by no means official and are pretty much my own humble opinion, although they overlap a fair bit with the idea of “SMART goals” that many organizations and schools like to use.