DylanWe just passed the end of January and I’m sure a lot of us have already abandoned our “New Year, New Me” plan. It could have been something about more reading, eating better, losing weight, etc, etc. The point is, every year we all come up with some big idea and start setting goals of what the next 12 months are going to look like, and I’m sure if we look back at the 12 months previous and whatever commitment was made, we haven’t always hit the mark.
For me, I spent years saying “I’m going to go back to the gym to lose weight and get to X lbs.” Sometimes I had a little success but most years I was basically Chandler from Friends and the “I wanna quit the gym” (I know this dates me). I did eventually achieve some success at this goal but it wasn’t the way I planned. I started 2020 with the gonna lose weight plan but did precisely nothing about it until March when, locked in my house 24 hours a day, it came down to walking or completely losing my mind. Little walks turned into bigger walks, and I even flirted with running until my knees strenuously objected. So I did get there but it really had nothing to do with a New Year’s Resolution.
Cue 2022. Having achieved losing weight and keeping it off, I decided I’m going to read more. Once again, great idea but the implementation was poor. I committed to reading 12 books in 2022 and by July I was still “reading” my first one. And then came Audible. I guess you can argue that it’s not reading and while you are right there are studies that show that ebooks have many of the same benefits as actually reading. Anyway, with a couple of mandated trips each week to a client office downtown, I started listening to books, and despite the non-start at the beginning of the year, I finished the year with 13 books. 10 of them were Audible but it did inspire me to read 3 physical books. So once again, a goal achieved but not really directly tied to New Year’s. I will continue my Audible into 2023 and, not setting the bar too high, I’m still targeting 12 for the year.
Rolling into 2023 I decided to skip the full year “New Year, New Me” resolution and instead picked a more modest goal, one I’ve done in the past as well. That was to quit drinking for the month of January and one other month during the year. I’m happy to report that I breezed through January and near beer actually starts to taste okay when you forget what the real stuff tastes like. I don’t know when I’ll do my next month but I’d guess probably sometime in the fall. Could I have picked the lofty “no drinking for 2023”? Yes, but much like exercise or reading I suspect I would have failed. I may go a year at some point but there is not really a need for that to be Jan-Dec.
What I’m trying to say here is perhaps you already tanked your New Year’s Resolution but Jan 1 is just a day. There is no reason to wait until next Jan 1 to make the changes you want to make. We are all capable of setting goals at any point in the year and working towards them in our own way. Sometimes the pressure of New Year’s is just too much and it increases our chances of failure.
So, pick a date, any date, perhaps one significant to you and make your own resolution. You’ll find there is less pressure associated with a random day vs Jan 1 and that may even help you achieve your goal. If you need an accountability partner or someone to check-in with, reach out and we can talk about how you can be successful in meeting your goals.
