Kill It in the New Year - Get a Fresh Start in 2017
2017 is here, and I’m sure many of you will welcome it with open arms. I don’t think anyone can deny that 2016’s been rough. Hopefully you all had an amazing holiday season, though! I know I definitely needed some chill time with the family, and of course, presents (and food) always make things better.
With the new year upon us, everyone’s thinking about their resolutions. But let’s be real – we’ve all been there. We’ve all set out on January 1st with our goals in mind, convicted and motivated to tackle them and be better by year end than we were at the beginning. And how long does that feeling last? Usually about a week – if that!
It’s hard to hang onto a resolution long enough to actually see it come to fruition. Why is that? Part of it is because we don’t set ourselves up for success from the get-go! It doesn’t matter how badly we think we want something because that level of gumption is hard to sustain over time. Those moments of less-than-stellar motivation are the same moments that will stop us in our tracks on the way to achieving our goals.
So, what can you do about this? In order to prevent self-sabotage, you’ve got to figure out a way to overcome those weaker moments. But what’s even better than overcoming? Preventing.
Slump that comes along with losing sight of your resolution? Can’t be bothered with getting up and doing what needs to be done. You don’t remember why you set the resolution in the first place. The perceived reward seems diminished when you think about the work you’d have to put in to get it. You’re convinced that there must be an easier way than what you’d previously decided.
That slump is the worst, and it’s hard to get out of. In fact, most of us never get out of it once we’re there, and therefore have a long list of goals we’ve set and abandoned. Preventing the slump from getting too debilitating will be your key to success in 2017.
Arguably, it’s impossible to prevent it from happening altogether. It’s almost a part of the creation process that you have to weather before you can start to reap the rewards of your endeavor. It’s like they say – nothing worth having is easy to come by. Nothing remarkable is simply given to us. A lot of time and effort was put in somewhere at some point before success came to fruition. And the harder the struggle, the more satisfying the victory.
Still, many good ideas die in the slump. It’s a graveyard of potential that no one pays attention to. In fact, some run from it, believing that their past failures will come back to haunt them. So, they proceed to live cautiously, making safe decisions and taking on mediocre “challenges.” And honestly – there’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve all got bills to pay and people who depend on us, so risk-taking isn’t an option for many people.