The resolution revolution
So today is Sunday, December 31, 2006; the day before we all change our lives forever.
Apparently.
We have told ourselves that tomorrow is the day.
The new us.
Thinner, lighter, happier, more relaxed, richer, more balanced … different.
Better.
Between Christmas and New Years we ate our own body weight in food because … that’s what we do and anyway … “We start tomorrow!”
So everything is fine.
I can justify and rationalize what I want; shut up Harper.
My body, my life.
Anyway, I deserved it.
We overeat, drink too much, and stumble towards the end of the year, knowing that January 1 is coming … and everything will be different.
Somehow.
Sure we have made and broken resolutions and promises before … but this year will be different.
Lesson 1: If nothing changes, nothing changes.
If you want next year to be the best year of your life, you need to establish why and how it will be different this time. Bearing in mind that a good or bad year is not about situations, circumstances, events or other people; it’s about you
Your options.
Your attitude.
Your ability to deal with discomfort.
Your ability to create new standards and ‘rules’.
Your ability to persevere when you’ve thrown in the towel before.
Your ability to keep doing it, even when it’s not fun, funny, or sexy (consistency).
So tomorrow we start to lose weight.
Get fit.
Give up the fumes.
Reduce the consumption of alcohol.
Curse less.
Fixing relationships.
Change out of bad clothes.
Yes, tomorrow is the day.
I’m glad it’s not today; not emotionally prepared today.
I just heard an interesting statistic on the news: This New Year, four million Australians will go on a diet. That is roughly twenty percent of our population.
If we use the same math in the United States, we end up with sixty million dieters.
Jenny Craig must be rubbing her hands.
Lesson 2: The truth is, for most people, the only change January 1 brings is a short-term change in behavior (usually less than fifteen days, often less than a week).
For personal development types like me, January 1 is the most interesting day of the year. It is the only universal day in which everyone talks about goals, dreams, plans and hopes; In short, we all talk about creating a better life (however that means to us).
We talk about it, we dream about it.
But often we don’t plan for it (really), we sweat about it, we sacrifice for it, we work for it, we feel uncomfortable about it.
We just “hope” it happens.
May success befall us from a great height.
We do not believe it.
We do not persevere.
We don’t finish what we started.
In my work I have seen (literally) thousands of talented, intelligent and capable people spend years going around in circles.
Years frustrated.
Years underperforming.
Years of making excuses and years of waiting for the right moment.
Years of making and breaking promises and resolutions.
Our greatest challenge in the search for a change forever, is not our ability (or lack of it), or opportunities, luck, potential, skills, education (or lack of it) and not our age or gender; it is our ability to constantly do the things we need to do to create the desired results, regardless of how we feel, day after day.
Lesson 3: Motivation is temporary.
For most people, motivation is a feeling; an emotional state. “I feel motivated because I just saw this amazing movie clip …”
If we only do it when we feel motivated, we will never create real change (forever) … because no one is motivated 24/7.
Success is always less about motivation and more about some very unattractive things like planning, self-control, discipline, organization, time management, decision making, and mental toughness.
Not sexy, not glamorous, but effective.
I can tell you that you want to listen, or I can tell you the truth.
Lesson 4. We don’t need another resolution, we need a revolution.
A revolution in the way we do things.
A revolution in the way we approach next year.
A revolution in our head.
I hate the whole concept that January 1 is the day for a new beginning.
If only we all understood that every day is the day.
A better life is not about the New Year …
It’s about the new me.
