Allow Today to be Your New Year
Most of us have heard the failure rate (80%) or more positively spun success rate (20%) of setting New Year’s Resolutions. As an advocate for setting goals, forecasting into the future, and setting up a plan to achieve positive future results I understand the idea of New Year’s resolutions. My concern for most people, present company included, comes with the idea that most resolutions are delayed until the New Year. This arbitrary “new start” our society overzealously commercializes becomes the thunderous bang of the race-gun for our next year. Each year I hear family and friends share their new goal, diet, idea, or whatever fresh start can be imagined for improving their life.
The problem I see is that just like my family and friends, we all seem to delay our purge of whatever vice or habit is holding us from starting these goals until January one two thousand and whatever. For example, we have all seen or even been the individual who says “after the holidays I am going to stop <insert idea>” (eating bad food) and then proceed to indulge in exactly what we expect our future selves to deny. How does this make any sense? How can we expect any long term change when we have not conditioned ourselves over time for that change? The reason I hesitate to endorse the practice of New Year's Resolutions is because we have not trained ourselves to be the person we expect to be on January 1 and beyond. And in this way, we set ourselves up for failure.
The reason almost all New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February (in my humble opinion) is due to the fact that we put all the influence and control of what tomorrow will look like on a specific date, January 1. The excitement most of us experiencing with this “fresh start” can be utilized any day of any week, month, or year. If you want to lose weight, improve a relationship, stop smoking, start a business, or go on a trip there is no time to delay. The planning and execution should start NOW.
One thing 2020 has taught me is the importance of acting with full energy and intention NOW. There is no time like the present to achieve your goals, dreams, and aspirations. So, as we enter 2021, whether you currently have New Year’s Resolutions or not, I encourage you to recognize that each day is a new opportunity to start and to create. If you want to change something in your life don’t wait for a date on the calendar to control when you start. Moreover, if you don’t start strong or fail to meet your own expectations don’t be discouraged - allow today to be your New Year and keep pushing. We all need to realize that to achieve anything we need to train for those achievements and daily repetition of that training will get you further ahead than glorifying a day that only comes once a year.
