Don’t Let The New Year Fool You

Don't Let The New Year Fool You

It happens every single year. Around December, people begin to gear up and make resolutions, personal promises and new goals for the upcoming year. It never fails.

Who insisted upon the idea that we should give it our all, once a year? How does this affect our ability to succeed and grow?

New Year’s Resolutions

This is a popular topic of discussion around this time. We make a point to begin our ‘new’ journey on January 1st.

People make resolutions about what they are going to do, but does anyone look back and give productive thought to the current year? How can you improve if you keep standing in the same place?

Making resolutions is fine, but make it a continuation of what you’re doing now. It doesn’t make sense to start the same thing, every year – time is valuable. Most people give up within the first few months and forget about it. This leads to making the same mistake with the same goal, every time.

Resolutions and goals are estimated potential guides. We know what we want to achieve, we set a plan and we put in the work. What happens when we crash and lose our momentum?

Don’t Let The New Year Get You Stuck

After the first couple of months of ‘working’ on getting better, the enthusiasm starts to fade. We begin to do less and less everyday. Distractions look more appealing. Eventually, we stop altogether.

Instead of getting back on the horse, we allow small, meaningless tasks to consume our time and energy, just as it did before. That same vortex creeps back into our lives, sucks us in, and takes over. Complacency sets in and excuses become even more common.

There’s no doubt that the little things need to get done, but what happened to becoming the best version of yourself? Where’s that fire and rock solid intention that you possessed on December 31st, right before midnight?

The New Year Isn’t The Only Time

Where does it say that we have to stop and wait until next year to start all over again?

Most people make the same declaration every year, because they didn’t accomplish it last year, or the year before. They lose their excitement and they just stop and never think about it again – until December.

As opposed to procrastinating and waiting, let’s get in the habit of starting the next day. Instead of having one opportunity a year to get it right, you now have 365 (366 if it’s a leap year) opportunities to get it right and create a productive and more fulfilling life.

You don’t have to lose weight every year. Lose weight one year, travel more the next year, start a business the year after that and so on. Do something and make progress, otherwise, you just live the same life over and over again.

Growing everyday is better than growing once a year.

Let’s turn “Happy New Year!” into “Happy New Day!” You don’t necessarily have to wait until midnight every night to proclaim it, but you could review your resolutions and goals before you go to sleep and wake up in the morning with the same intent and motivation.

Commit To Your Greatness, All Over Again

The best part is, you get a chance to begin again, every 24 hours. No matter how ineffective you may have been yesterday (because it does happen), you can recommit and start all over again.

Build up your consistency by letting go of your fear of failure – do it until you get it right. Failing is the most straightforward way of learning how to do something better and it gets you to your success a lot faster than waiting. If you don’t keep pushing to improve, how will you get there?

There’s no need to wait for months at a time before you set a new goal, or begin one. You haven’t failed, you just need another opportunity to get it right. Give yourself permission and take that opportunity, daily.

#BeGoalden

How Will You Fail In 2020?

How Will You Fail In 2020?

There’s an interview with Kobe Bryant, the retired NBA player, where he’s asked what drives him. 

“When people boo me. I THRIVE on that.”

Let that sink in for a moment. People are actually rooting for him to fail, yet, he turns it into an advantage.

How many of us can do that?

Most People

Most people fold when they’re booed. Everyone doesn’t perform well under pressure, but as you can see, it can be used to your advantage

For the most part, we’ve been taught to make others happy. When people are encouraging us, it makes us feel good inside — we have someone who cares enough to support us and their hope and belief means the world to us.

When we fail, we feel like losers — like we let the whole world down. It’s as if someone died and we can’t get another chance or make another attempt. It’s too late.

That’s how most people respond to failing. It has been reinforced through our environment at school and home. Failing is bad and you won’t get another shot at being your best.

This is exactly what makes people avoid trying anything in the first place. Have you ever seen someone who never tries anything new? No matter how simple it is, they always have an excuse as to why they won’t step out of their comfort zone.

It’s like they don’t want to learn new things, or get better. Maybe they just don’t know how, or it’s too embarrassing if it doesn’t work out in their favor. 

We tend to think about the worst before we think about the best. We think the world will laugh at us forever and never forget. No one will let us move on because of that one time when you did your best, but you fell flat on your face.

Two Things To Remember When You Fail

One: it’s all in your head. People may laugh or make critical comments, but it’s not personal towards you. It may feel like it is, but it’s not. Before you know it, they’re laughing and criticizing someone else and moving on. 

There are so many distractions coming through that device in the palm of your hand, don’t think of yourself as so lucky that someone gives you some critical attention and that they’re always focusing on you. Get over yourself. They’re on to the next thing and you should get out of your feelings and move on, as well. No one really cares.

Two: the definition of failing is ‘to learn how to do it better next time,’ not ‘it’s bad, you messed up, you’re so stupid, how could you make that mistake, everyone saw you…’ 

How else will we learn if we don’t make mistakes and fail? The world isn’t perfect, but since the beginning of time, we’ve failed and made some major improvements on a lot of things. You must shift your perspective.

How Can I Shift My Perspective?

Failing is learning. A mistake is feedback. A problem is a challenge. An obstacle is a step to the next level.

It’s all about how you process these ‘negative’ words. All of these particular words (and more that aren’t listed) are based on the foundation of your personal development.

It’s never too late. As long as you’re breathing, you can always improve and become better, everyday. That’s why you hear people say things like, “Fail forward.” Again: how else will you learn?

Some things you can learn by other people who’ve made mistakes (feedback). That’s good and all, but it shouldn’t intimidate you from continuing to take action.

How Will You Fail?

Back to the question: how will you fail in 2020?

Everyone is talking about their goals and how 2020 is going to be the year and so on. We say this every year and for some of us, nothing changes. We just like to be in the happy midst of making goals and resolutions, so we won’t feel left out.

Personally, I’m tired of hearing people say what they’re going to do and they haven’t even finished 2019, yet. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people have goals (after all, I am The GOALden Lady), but there needs to be physical action behind those verbal goals.

It happens every New Year — we announce all of the amazing things we’re going to do and then…crickets. Everyone is on to something else, as if your words don’t matter. This can really mess with your mindset and how you proceed to do things. Unless you follow up with some type of action, you’ll never have the determination to finish anything.

So, instead of asking, “What are your goals for 2020?”, ask, “How will you fail in 2020?” In other words, how will you learn in 2020? This should make you think beyond the basic response of, “I’m going to exercise/lose weight/start a side business.”

How will you learn? Are you going to exercise the same muscle groups everyday? Will you learn how to eat more nutrient dense foods? Are you going to research and file that business license?

When you make the decision to learn something, you must think through the process in detail. Thinking in detail does make your mind work a little harder, but there’s no easy way to get those results. It’s part of the productive process.

Back To Kobe

As you see, becoming successful will require you to be your own cheerleader. It will require you to shift your perspective, in order for things to work in your favor. 

As a superstar, you’d think Kobe shines the most when everyone is rooting for him and encouraging him as he plays. That helps, but even in that clutch moment when it seems everyone is against him, he still comes out on top. If not, he learns what to do the next time he plays.

It’s as simple as that.

Do what you can control. Don’t just blurt out your goals for 2020, but give them some serious thought in how you will follow through and achieve them. No one has control over your mindset more than you. Decide what types of thoughts you want to accept and reject. Shift your perception of what goes on around you and make it work for you.

Remember: you never fail — you always learn.

#BeGoalden