So this year, my New Year’s resolution is not to make a resolution.

The reminders start the day after Christmas. There are year-in-review news stories and TV programs; magazine articles on the most-popular resolutions; books, websites and consultants devoted to helping people identify and achieve their goals.

With so many reminders to reflect on the past 12 months and think about your goals for the coming year, it’s hard to resist making a resolution _ especially for a goal-oriented person like me.

I like making lists, and I really like crossing things off the lists. My life is full of goals, from the big dreams (write a novel, run a marathon) to the daily minutiae (finish folding the laundry, unload the dishwasher). I have running goals all year long _ from how many miles I’ll log in a month to how fast I’ll complete my next 10k. I have daily to-do lists and monthly budgets; lists of projects I’d like to do around the house and a 2007 calendar that’s already filling up with work deadlines and family commitments.

Like most parents, I’m busy _ too busy, sometimes, to relax and enjoy the ordinary, unplanned moments, things like knock-knock jokes and snuggles and impromptu games of hide and seek. And so, I am boycotting the New-Year’s-resolution-making this year, because I don’t need any more plans.

I’ve decided I can’t take on any more goals. I want to spend more time living in the moment and less time tracking and plotting.

It would not be hard to come up with a resolution for 2007. There are lots of things I’d like to work on: Drink more water. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Run faster. Save more money. Organize the photos. Find more time for fiction writing. (See how much I like making lists?) But which resolution should I pick? Can I commit to more than one? How much time will it take to plan my strategy for success and track my progress? With my husband and the kids on vacation and my sisters visiting, I don’t even want to take the time to consider these questions.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for self-improvement and setting goals. There’s a certain necessary fulfillment in breaking a bad habit, achieving something you worked hard at or crossing a big project off the to-do list. Most of us need these little milestones to propel us forward. (And the compulsive list-makers among us need them more than others.) A New Year’s resolution is the ultimate project. Making _ and keeping _ a resolution requires planning.

To be successful, you need to spend some time in the hypothetical future, one year later, visualizing yourself more fit, a non-smoker, playing the guitar, paying off your credit-card debt or taking that trip you always fantasized about. You also need to envision all the steps it will take in the short term to fulfill the resolution. All of this takes your attention away from the present, where your kids might be doing something really cute, and you might be missing it.

For me, that’s the problem. I just don’t want to spend any more time planning for the future or reviewing the past than I already do. I’d rather spend my work- and chore-free time playing Hi Ho! Cherry-O than recording my daily water intake or planning my next fruit-and-veggie-packed meal.[an error occurred while processing this directive]