How is it already the end of January!?! What happened to the fresh starts, new beginnings, re-starts, & all around becoming a better version of ourselves? We’re already 4 weeks into that new year, which may not be feeling so shiny anymore. It doesn’t help that statistics show a big drop-off in resolve somewhere between our first and sixth month.

Today is a good day to remember a resolution or goal is not something to flog ourselves with or evidence of failure we can use against ourselves in those low moments. I set my goals four weeks ago with the intention of achieving them, not harming myself with them. I’ve decided three things will help me keep them in their place:

Take Baby Steps
This week I had a great conversation with my own coach about achievable resolutions. Why do they have to be heroic pursuits? What’s wrong with achieving something seemingly small and building on the feeling of success? On the way to that weight-loss, new career, better relationship, or whatever your resolution may be, what is the first step?

Choose My Own Story
I found these ideas posed by social psychologists revealing. Reading about the “what the hell effect” and the “planning fallacy” reminded me that my personal beliefs about how I set goals and achieve them has huge influence on my actual ability to do so. In the article above, strict limits can lead to repeated failure, resulting in evidence to support any of our less-than-charitable personal beliefs about ourselves. Without being conscious of the gremlins – the insistent critical little voices in our heads – those beliefs actually determine whether or not we make any progress, before we’re even out of the gate. Time to consciously remind myself of my own real examples of successfully achieving my goals.

Keep Going… Start Again
The main thing is to keep going. Those challenges to our resolve, clumsy trips into a bowl full of ice cream, or actual decisions to break a healthy habit are lessons to learn from. It’s worth stopping to consider why we got stuck, why we made those choices. Then keep going, or start again, having learned something new. We all love a restart, and a milestone date seems to create momentum. Why must it be at a New Year? It’s the most obvious starting-over point, but there are so many more. Don’t wait another year. If you get stuck, consider these re-starting points:

  • Chinese New Year (8 Feb)
  • Lent (10 Feb)
  • next full moon (22 Feb)
  • Spring Equinox (20 March)

In fact, how about this coming Monday – conveniently the 1st of the month! Or even the next sunrise?

Every single day – and in fact every single moment – you have the power to make conscious choices that create your life. Think of achieving success that way, and you’ll discover all the motivating energy of the first flush of the new year is actually all around us every day of the entire year.

This is one of my favourite phrases:

Every Moment You Create Who You Want to Be

What adventure will you choose?