As the last month of 2019 kicks off, how many of us have already staked our happiness on what will happen in 2020? We have already 'written off' December as a month where something new or transformative won’t happen because we'll be busy with all of the excitement...and obligations...of the holiday season.
It isn't that we don't have the same amount of time available to us or even the desire to change. But somewhere along the way the idea of a fresh start with the new year grabbed a hold of us and with it came the perfect excuse to just coast through December. In January, we'll focus, buckle down and make things happen, but until then, please pass the cookies.
That's just the anti-motivation we need to overindulge in those holiday treats or skip a few days at the gym. After all, we are really going to get serious about our lives on January 1st! We're already starting to compile the list of the life changing things that will happen in the new year - the magical resolutions. It will be a fresh start and the things we struggle with today will be vanquished as the calendar page turns.
And then January 1st arrives and we already know how this is going to turn out. That list of resolutions you are so excited about today will seem to topple like dominoes and you will quickly leave behind the idea of the fabulous new you. Less than 25% of us will have even a fingernail's grip on a single resolution by February 1st and those who really make lasting changes in their lives drops into the low single digits by the middle of the year. Not very encouraging, and not surprising.
Resolutions are vague and out somewhere in the future, where something outside of you will give you the motivation, knowledge and willpower to change. They're just not specific enough, almost never have a detailed plan of how you're going to accomplish them and rarely do they include the systems and support you'll need to hang in there when things get rough (and they will). What we end up with is a big pile of guilt and shame over once again not being able to stick with it, and that is usually enough to keep us where we are until the next year rolls around again.
What if you tried something different? What if you looked at every new day as an opportunity to improve your life? What if you got the support and systems in place today to help you get really clear on the priorities in your life? What if you got real with yourself about what you could accomplish and in what time frames? What if it wasn't about overnight transformation, but little steps you could manage?
It can all start today, right now, wherever you are. What's stopping you!?