At the beginning of a new year, people often say, “This year is my year.” But we all know what happens…
Many will start the year with these incredible aspirations and goals for their personal and professional life, their health, finances — all those things — but we all know what the gym looks like by February and March. People will start strong but eventually, taper off, and the cycle starts all over again the next year.
Why is that? Why do people fall off?
I would argue that a new year is not really “a fresh start” when all that really happened was the date changed from December 31 to January 1.
If you ended the year with poor habits and poor momentum, what makes you think all that will go away in one day? When you think about it, if you really wanted to make a change, you could do it any day.
Your goals will never work until you do.
I’ve found that the only way you will really, truly commit to something is if you are so sold on what that future is that you would be willing to stick with the hard things that go along with achieving those goals.
If you look at the freaks of this earth, the ones who seem like they are possessed with a hunger for success, you might think, “How does that person work all those late hours? How do they work during the week and on the weekends? How do they just keep going? How do they keep all that energy?”
I’ll tell you what — those are the people who have the greatest amount of clarity. They have established a clear purpose of “why,” and they are so sold on their future that they are willing to endure anything to get there.
As the saying goes, “Show me your habits, and I’ll show you your future.”
We are all committed to our existing set of habits. Sometimes those habits are good, like consistently eating well and exercising — but sometimes, you may be committed to habits that are keeping you from the future you want, such as not getting adequate sleep or spending all your free time scrolling through your social media.
What it really comes down to is consistency and really aiming to establish those good habits one day at a time.
So what habits are you committed to transforming to achieve your goals? And are you sold enough on those goals to do what it takes to stay committed?
