The New Year is upon us and now is the time when everyone looks back on the prior year to reflect and then dream of a better new year. But will next year truly be a better year for you or just a repeat of or slightly improved version of last year? The answer to that question will be based on how you assess yourself in the old year and how badly you really want to change in the new year.
In Key West, there is a Mile Marker 0, and it designates the starting point of a 120 mile journey across the Florida Keys to reach mainland Florida. The first time I saw it, I thought to myself,
"Each New Year is kinda like Mile Marker 0.
The New Year is the starting point of a journey that can lead you to discover a new and better life.
Now, if you want the New Year to ultimately result in a New You, you have to start the hard work of moving away from your Mile Marker 0. Everybody has one, and in order to actually complete the goal of a New You, you will have to decide if you really want to embrace the challenge of change. But before you can start your journey, you need to decide on some areas of your life that you want to change.
Where Do You Want To Go?
These are the 5 areas that I revisit every year to make New You Resolutions with myself:
Faith - For the past 5 years, I have adopted a New Year's resolution word that I attach memory verses to each letter. Each day I study those verses to strengthen my relationship with Christ. My word for 2023 was PEACE and it really transformed my mind with daily study, reflection, and application.
Health and Diet - Each year, I set exercise goals, body goals or fitness goals that I want to achieve and daily goals to achieve those goals. This year, I saw good changes in my health because I chose to stay committed to my goals.
Personal Relationships - I identify how I want to be a better husband, father, and person so that I can strengthen the relationships that are important to me. Life is full of distractions, but without continuous work on your relationships, your life will always be a challenge.
Work Ethic - I identify areas for growth in my organization, communication, or strategic work that I want to employ to be more effective and also efficient in my leadership, work, and work ethic.
Creativity - I identify goals around creativity or innovation. Some years, it has been to learn a new language. Others I have decided to write a book, or learn a new form of media. Developing your creativity stretches and strengthens your mind.
How Fast Do You Want To Get There?
Once you choose your goal, you have not done anything yet. If you don't believe me, check out the gyms in February. They are empty for 5 reasons, and most people don't get past the first component necessary to develop a New You.
Structure - The first thing you have to do to become a NEW YOU is create your structure to reach your goal. Allocate the time in your schedule. Set multiple alarms to do the work and most importantly, don't let anything prevent you from doing your NEW YOU work. Most people fail because they don't create a structure to get the work done and set many reminders to make it happen.
Tenacity - There are 2 types of tenacity, 1 that keeps the OLD YOU intact and 1 that pushes you to become the NEW YOU. Most people remain in their OLD YOU because their thinking is so tenacious in making excuses and letting the pain of new work shut them down mentally. All goals are lost in the mind. Fight the tenacious thinking of excuse-making and replace it with the tenacity of YES, I WILL reach this goal.
Accountability - Without accountability, we always fail. Create spreadsheets to chart your progress, set alarms to do the work, create reminders to hold yourself accountable, or enlist the help of a spouse, friend or coworker to check in on your daily or weekly progress to ensure that you stick to your action plan. Accountability works best when you give people permission to correct you when you start to slide or quit.
Recognize Remission, Recommit & Restart - During spring break in 2023, I complete failed on all of my goals. I didn't get any of them done. I was very frustrated and almost quit completely. Thank God, I got up on Monday the following week and made the recommitment to restart my work toward my goals. You will fail. You will even fall completely apart. When that happens, recognize that will fall into the remission of our old selves, and the only resolution is to restart your plan. Don't quit because you failed.
Time - Time is the currency of excellence and the best people I know optimize every minute. In this broken and fallen world, the enemy doesn't want you to reach your goal so he uses distractions to help us loose time. TV, social media, or wasting time on useless tasks will prevent you from reaching your goal. It is perfectly acceptable to become OCD with your time management and say NO to anything that is unproductive in helping you reach your goals.
NEW YEAR - NEW YOU
So when you get to December 31 next year, will you find the NEW YOU? The answer to that question will be based on this question.
Will today be a new day or an old day?
We all have the same number of minutes in each day. The variable in life is what we choose to do with them. Change is hard, but the consequences of taking it easy are harder. I choose to be a NEW me next year. Will you join me?
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