“A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other, don’t let it go in one ear and out the other”!
It’s that time of year again. The battle between the flesh and the mind, have been at odds with one another throughout the year and now we have a chance to appease one or the other. Sound familiar? Of course it does, it’s the season of the New Year resolution.
"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man". ~Benjamin Franklin
I’m not too sure where the tradition arose or whether it is part of humanities resolve to feel good in ones attempts to do better or lift the internal burden of guilt at having failed in ones preferred outcome? Either way, we face another year in which millions of individuals will make a mental list of promises to one’s self and others.
"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning". ~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"
Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set, such as, a pound a week, instead of saying "lose weight"), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.[3]. Despite each goal having its own specific rewards and challenges, there are deep commonalities in the mindsets which start change [4]. more info
I am convinced that willpower in itself assists few people in achieving their goals. In fact, people provide the many support structures that assist us in making our changes.
“The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway” – Proverb
We should be more concerned with the process than the result as the Journey of life is littered with parking spaces, and because of this, the average person will never reach their FULL Potential in life.
"It’s easier to obtain than it is to maintain" – Edwin Louis Cole
Some years ago, I spoke to a friend who had a string of fitness centres around New Zealand. He told me, one of their fire sure marketing strategies was to sell more yearly gym memberships than they were licensed to hold, knowing full well, that more than fifty percent would fail to use them outside of their first three months! Human nature is such, that it is more enticing to start something than the character needed to complete it. That’s why:
Gym membership
New diet
Study or course commencement
Apprenticeship
Relationship
Saving / Investing ….. all require a steadfast commitment to complete.
"The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months"! ~Edward Payson Powell
Some of the most popular goals include resolutions are:
• Improve health: lose weight, exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking
• Improve finances: get out of debt, save money
• Improve career: get a better job
• Improve education: improve grades, get a better education, learn something new (such as a foreign language or music)
• Improve self: become more organized, reduce stress, be less grumpy, manage time, be more independent
• Take a trip
• Volunteer to help others Wikipedia
“Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.” - Anonymous
Here are some keys I believe will assist anyone to be successful in entering 2011 equipped and confident to succeed. In order to finish well, we must develop some consistencies in Life:
1. We have to prioritise our lives / circumstances / time
2. We live by conviction of what is true, not what “feels good”
3. We are to be consistent THROUGHOUT our life. Many Athletes “Peak” at a certain age, or event,
BUT teams seek consistency
4. To finish as well, we must be prepared to start
“A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other, don’t let it go in one ear and out the other”!
Here’s to all those in the blogosphere, who are sat with pen in hand and notepad at the ready, with a heart full of optimism for the year that beckons to us all. Set your goals in concrete and your plans in sand, for the way you get to your goals may shift, but don’t be deterred, for the journey is just as important as the destination.
“Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past”. Henry Ward Beecher
Be blessed and fulfilled in 2011.
