35 Things I’m giving up for lent

At the start of every year we are pressured into making New Year’s Resolutions, which promptly go the way of LAAs and fade into the hazy depths of distant memories.  However, no sooner have we accepted that perhaps losing 7 pounds a month for a year is a tough ask than along comes lent.

Well, unlike in previous years, this year I am going to take advantage of lent and actually do0 (or not) a few things for lent.  If you’ve got any suggestions then tweet us (@welovelocalgov).  For the next 40 days:

1. I will try to give up rolling my eyes whenever I read the words ‘Eric Pickles today announced…’
2. I will not criticise my boss in public (even if I’m in the right)
3. I will not criticises my boss in private (even if I think they can’t hear me)
4. I will not work more than a 45 hour week
5. I will not sneer every time someone says that the answer to a problem is more localism
6. I will not play localgov bingo
7. I will not hide song lyrics in committee papers
8. I will not constantly compare my new workplace with my old workplace
9. I will not respond to people who ask for IT help that they have an ID-ten-T problem
10. I will not miss more than one lunch per week
11. I will limit the number of times I say ‘but why?!’ in the tone of a five year old to three per day
12. I will not send compromising e-mails from colleagues accounts when they leave their computers unlocked
13. I will not add the words ‘so sayeth Lord Pickles’ to the end of presentations
14. I will not claim that I am a spy for the DCLG
15. I will not deny that I am a spy from the DCLG
16. I will not put my hand over my mouth whenever speaking in the corridor ‘in case they are filming my conversations’
17. I will not pretend to be my own PA when answering the phone
18. I will not filter phone calls to me
19. I will not mark every e-mail with a red flag and include the word URGENT in the subject line
20. I will not book meeting rooms if I do not really need them
21. I will not ask new staff to get me a ‘meeting weight’, a ‘spiral bound LAA 2012/13 forward plan’, a ‘left handed version of MS Office’ or a copy of the ‘councillor humour policy’
22. I will not imply that councillors have no sense of humour
23. I will stop insisting that online videos are the answer, especially when the question is ‘have you finished the risk assessment?’
24. I will not get into the office early and take a nap at my desk, pretending I’ve worked through the night to meet a deadline
25. I will not turn around and walk in the opposite direction every time I catch a security guard’s eye
26. I will not bribe ICT to change the clocks on computers to get an early day
27. I will not swap comments with colleagues via Twitter in boring meetings, in the style of school children passing notes
28. I will not add the phrase ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ to risk assessments
29. When asked why I began a project which failed abysmally, I will not reply with ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’
30. I will not insist that decisions made at full council need to be agreed by a small majority of my team before being implemented
31. I will not add inappropriate sentences to presentations for my boss in the hope of a Ron Burgundy moment
32. I will not include ‘world domination’ as a SMART target on my annual appraisal
33. I will not spend time working out how many people would need to fall ill before I would be in charge
34. I will not refer to a certain political figure as ‘the thumb’ whenever they are on tv
35. I will not be so indecisive.  I think.  Probably.

Any other suggestions?

Welovelocalgovernment is a blog written by UK local government officers. If you have a piece you’d like to submit or any comments you’d like to make please drop us a line at: welovelocalgovernment@gmail.com

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Tags: blog, good intentions, I will not, lent, local government, local government blog, localgov, resolutions

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