Most human body parts regenerate over the years. Your bones renew every decade, your stomach lining renews every few days. And you can choose to renew yourself. The person you are today does not have to be the person you become this coming year.
The start of a new year is always an opportunity. It is a fresh beginning, a new chapter, another chance to get it right. Why not take advantage of such a moment?
Some will say it is not good to make resolutions because no one ever keeps them. But that is not true.
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John Norcross, professor at the University of Scranton, has written on change and is an expert on New Year’s resolutions. He says that at the six-month period of a resolution, 40% of people are still keeping them. Furthermore, other research shows if you make the same resolution three years in a row, there is a high probability it will actually happen.
The most popular resolutions year after year are having finances in order, getting healthier, making a marriage better, breaking bad habits, and being closer to God. Many of those resolutions have a focus on the individual.
And some say this is another reason for not making resolutions. It is wrong to make resolutions that are focused on yourself and not on others. This kind of either/or thinking does not help anyone.
Here is a resolution for this new year: stop thinking either/or and start thinking both/and. Why couldn’t you have resolutions focused on your own life and on how you are going to help others? Both can certainly happen. This simple shift in the way you think could have an amazing impact on your life in the new year.
You can focus on yourself and focus on others. If you were to focus on getting healthier, you could become a better parent to your children because you would have more energy. You could also live longer and be able to help more people because you have better health.
Some will say goals are superior to resolutions. A goal refers to a specific achievement by a specific date. While resolutions are promises you make indefinitely. But a resolution is really nothing more than a goal. The rest is just semantics.
What organization that has any degree of success doesn’t annually evaluate? Successful organizations are in the business of evaluation and innovation. They look at their year, at where they are strong and where they are weak. They look at emerging opportunities. They define changes that must be made.
Why would an individual not do the same thing? Evaluate yourself. Look at what worked and what didn’t. See where you need to make positive change in your life.
Maybe you already have. You know what it is you want to do or do more. You know what it is you don’t want to do or stop. After evaluation, you make the resolutions.
A new year is a great opportunity because it is a fresh start. It is an exciting new chapter yet to be written about your life. It’s wise to take advantage of it. If you are not happy at the end of this new year and are frustrated — you should have made resolutions.
Because at the beginning of the year you were given a marvelous opportunity to do something positive with your life, and you took a pass. I hope you won’t do that.
After evaluation and making a resolution, the process is not over; in fact, it has just begun. Diligence is required. Success lies in committing yourself to your resolution until you accomplish it. Lots of people have hopes and aspirations for many things that never happen because they are just not diligent enough to follow through.
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And realize there will be setbacks. Whenever you attempt something new, there is always the potential for sidetracks and pushbacks. To think accomplishing a resolution is going to be easy sets you up for failure. Sometimes you will find yourself in situations you didn’t anticipate, or things happen that you weren’t ready for, so you might have a little setback.
Your health resolution might be challenged because you got sick and didn’t work out for a week. Then when you got back to work, an associate brought in their famous triple fudge brownies and you devoured them. You just had a setback, and now you need to bounce back. You can do it.
Everybody has setbacks; no one achieves a goal without some challenges along the way. There is no reason to quit or give up on what you’ve resolved to do.
Evaluate your life, make resolutions, realize you’ll have setbacks and be diligent with your goal.
The result this year could be a new, better you.
