It’s December 31st, 2013. How many of your resolutions can you cross off the list?
We’ll all be asking ourselves that question in just five months. Luckily five months is still enough time to avoid feelings of dejection, denial, stagnation and ultimately regret of letting a whole ‘nother year pass by without losing thirty pounds or changing jobs or drinking less. It’s natural to get off track or get lost when you chart a course for a new destination. Falling off the wagon is almost guaranteed in some cases. What’s critical is getting back on track. Doing so starts first with the acknowledgement that you’ve made a mistake.
I face many challenges and hurdles throughout the process of shaping my life to be everything I imagine it can be (and then some). But the worst hurdles I face are the self-inflicted ones. We all have our tragic Shakespearian flaws, those characteristics that can break us or make us if we overcome them. I’ve recently come face to face with mine; the encounter was a result of simply recognizing my behavior in a certain type of situation as a yearly recurrence–a pattern. And now, having identified this pattern, I can start thinking of new responses to it. I can also anticipate it and avoid it altogether.
This month, our un’ruly call-to-action is to think about what one thing you keep doing that keeps putting you in the same position. As you think about this, take a big-picture-approach and think back over the years. There may be several things, but think about the one behavior pattern that has or has had the biggest impact. And then start thinking of what you can do differently to address it in both the short term and the long term. The five months we have left of 2013 may be a short time, but if we use that time wisely and we tackle one major thing that has a major effect on our lives, we can head into 2014 with a pep in our step and a sense of confidence that change happened this year and even more can happen next year.
Best,
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