Are new year’s resolutions a golden opportunity for self-improvement, or do they reinforce a damaging ideology of work and “self-improvement”? And how can we best decide on a resolution?

This episode explores two philosophical challenges to the way we tend to do new year’s resolutions. The first is from Bertrand Russell and his 1932 assault on hyper-productivity. The second is from Kieran Setiya’s book Midlife, which suggests we will never be fulfilled if the sources of meaning in our life mainly lie in projects and achievements. He suggests we should reorient our lives towards processes and the now, not completable tasks whose promise lies either in the future or the past. This may lead to a new way to set new year’s resolutions.

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Created, hosted and produced by Will Gildea (GRÉEA, CRÉ), with the financial support of the CRÉ.