First a quote: “Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” – Cavett Robert
Good morning and Happy New Year to you! Hard to believe it will soon be 2020. Gosh, that sounds so futuristic for someone born in the 50’s! Do you remember the song “In the Year 2525” released in 1969 by Zager and Evans?
Have you ever said, or perhaps heard, someone else say something like: “I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because they never last?” Or, “Diets don’t work?” Or maybe, “I don’t believe in resolutions because they always fail?”
There is obviously some truth in those statements; just ask any person who habitually, and consistently, goes to the gym on regular basis. Most will tell you their least favorite time of the year for their routine workout is early January. Why you ask? Because almost every single gym is overcrowded with well-intended “New Year’s Resolution People.” The sad truth, however, is that by the end of January, gym participation tends to return to a more normal state as those resolutions are overpowered by past habits and routine behavior.
I humbly submit resolutions can, and do work, if the people involved stay committed, as Cavett Robert penned, long after the excitement of the moment has passed. Resolutions work when their authors stay resolute, and therein lies the challenge. Our past behavior and bad habits (or lack of good habits) are like extremely powerful “tractor beams” or even the earth’s gravitational pull. It takes tremendous energy and focus to break away from past habits in the creation of new habits.
Are you contemplating any resolutions for the New Year? If so, I might suggest it may be more effective to focus on specific and measurable habits, not resolutions. Which of your habits are working in your favor and which are working against your personal goals and desires? My observation about human behavior is that too many of us don’t intentionally choose our habits, rather the habits that are shaping our lives were acquired accidently without conscious thought.
So, my advice, rather than making resolutions for the new year, identify two habits, that if eliminated or intentionally replaced, would make a meaningful difference in your health, relationships, career or life. People tend to have more success when the habits they’re creating include measurable behaviors. Begin in earnest and make at least a 45-day commitment to create a new habit.
John Maxwell said, “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” I completely agree!
Related Monday Morning Minute articles:
- Click here to read: What Habits Are Compounding In Your Life?
- Click here to read: What habits are shaping your life?
Bonus quotes below.
Are you willing to share your ideas on this topic with other readers? What are your thoughts and/or experiences regarding this topic?
How will you live, or lead, differently or better the coming year?
Happy New Year and all the very best in 2020! Sincerely,
Bryan Yager
208.376.1701
“Expanding Your Capacity for Success”
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Bonus Quotes:
- “Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” ― Stephen Covey
- “Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.” ― Sean Covey
- “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.” ― Aristotle
- “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” ― Benjamin Franklin
- “Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do.” ― William Makepeace Thackeray
- “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” ― Samuel Johnson
- “Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it.” ― Horace Mann
- “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception; it is a prevailing attitude.” ― Colin Powell
- “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” ― Vince Lombardi
- “You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life.” ― Wayne Dyer
- “I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.” ― Lewis Howes
