The new year started just 12 days ago, but I am going to speculate that most New Year’s resolutions that were made have already failed. I know many people don’t even make New Year’s resolutions because they never succeed. So why bother? To be honest with you, I have not even started mine yet! Why am I still even thinking about New Year’s resolutions, it’s almost the middle of January?
The reason I am still thinking about a New Year's resolution is because of my one success story. The one and only new year’s resolution that I succeeded at was, “Sometime this year I will . . .” I realize now it worked, not because it was so vague, but because it gave me a chance to fail along the way. The reason I stated the resolution that way was because I couldn’t start on January 1. I started it a couple of weeks later then failed. But a couple of months later, I remembered that my resolution was sometime this year. So, I started again. If I remember right, I had one more set back and then tried again. By the end of the year I had made it a habit. I had accomplished my resolution!
Normally, my New Year resolution starts on January 1 and within two weeks I have failed. It is added to my bucket of failed resolutions. The failed resolutions always say, “Starting today I will. . .” Which means that on January 1st and each day after that I will repeat the task. I am asking for perfection. Allowing for no error or set back. When I have an error or a setback I quit. I failed. That’s kind of crazy. I am not perfect.
It is time to allow for errors and setbacks with my New Year resolution. I am going to think of it like a sporting event. Some days I will win the game and some days I will lose. When I lose the game, I won’t quit (unless I become a sore loser). I will just play the next game. If I win several games, I will have a winning streak. A winning streak refers to a consecutive number of games won, beginning with the third consecutive victory. If I have a five-game winning streak and then lose, I will just play the sixth game. I can’t just quit. Hopefully, I start the next winning streak. Allowing for no losses would mean I would only play if I had a perfect season. That is just crazy, very few teams ever have a perfect season. So why am I expecting my New Year resolutions to be perfect?
“My 2017 New Year resolution is sometime this year I will exercise 5 days per week.” I will keep track of each week that I exercise 5 days and create a winning streak! I am off to play a 50 games season, 50 weeks to win or lose. I am not going to have a perfect season, I will win some and lose some. But I can show up to play each week. My goal is to end the year with a winning streak!