Resolve: to progress from dissonance to consonance. – Merriam-Webster

To change from the disagreeable to the harmonious. To move forward from inconsistency to agreement. To go from bad to good.

That’s what we tell ourselves we’re going to do in the next 12 months.

To make this life-change into harmony, we break down our resolutions into short, digestible goals: Go to the gym. Learn to code. Eat more veggies. Call your mother.

Yet lifting weights three times a week won’t make your life harmonious. Sure, you may be able to slim down and fit into those skinny jeans again, but is true consonance reached? Meh, not really.

The disagreeable will still be there. Three months into the new year, your boss starts being a real jerk at work. Or your toilet breaks and the landlord won’t pay for a plumber. Or your dog gets sick, your favorite bar closes and the Green Line is late.

Basically, something will always be disagreeable in your life.

At the bottom of these resolutions, then, we’re not trying to find harmony – we’re just trying to make ourselves, and by extension the world around us, less sucky.

“Resolution” may be a nicer word, but these bite-sized goals we make are about taking the “suck” out of ourselves. In the new year, we vow to change the things we can change. We vow to unsuck ourselves. Nobody is perfect; everybody sucks at something.

In the coming weeks, BostInno will highlight tips, tricks and obstacles on the road to unsuck yourself. From food to education, finance to dating, career to travel, we’ll help you find the ways to get the suck out in 2013.

So this year, will you abandon the word “resolution” with me?