If you’re in the majority, you made some sort of New Year’s resolution. According to this Infographic, 62% of Americans do, but unfortunately less than half maintain those commitments beyond 6 months.
I’ve finally reached a point in my life where I’ve stopped making New Year resolutions.
Why? Because I don’t like to start something I can’t win – and I’ve never crossed the finish line victorious after 365 days of success with a new habit.
Each year, I’ve had good intentions to lose weight, eat better, get more organized and create more margin in my life for spending time doing the things that I love. But so far, those things have not happened consistently for any length of time.
Sure, I’ll be moderately successful for a few days or weeks, but soon the enormity of committing to a life change for such a long time – 365 days – makes the activity seem a bit overwhelming. Once a day gets skipped, the slope becomes very slippery and the likelihood that I’ll slide backwards down the hill of success increases exponentially.
So this year, I’ve decided to try something different. I’m going to make 30-day commitments in three areas of my life – personal, health and business.
Why 30 days? It’s a shorter distance to the goal line. It’s doable and not overwhelming. Plus, I’ll be able to try at least 36 new things in 2014 that I may not have done otherwise!
Part of my inspiration for this idea is this popular and short (3:27 minutes) TED talk from Google Engineer Matt Cutts on trying something new for 30 days. (email subscribers click here to view)
I like it. I can do this.
Here are my three 30-Day Commitments for January 2014:
Personal – I will get out of bed by 7am every day for 30 days (even weekends)
Health – I will do some form of exercise every day for 30 days straight (no rest days)
Business – I will create and post content (good stuff) on my blog 5 days per week in January 2014
Want to join me in committing to something for 30 days instead of 365?
I’d love to encourage you in your journey. Leave a comment and share with me your commitment(s)!
