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January 1.
The first of every month. Sundays. Mornings. The Gregorian calendar (the one we currently use) is designed to allow for fresh starts. We get a new one every year, every month, every week and every morning. We’re often in need of fresh starts and new mercies. Thankfully, Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” As you think about and plan for 2019, don’t lose sight of the fact that you can always start a new workout regimen, reading habit, eating plan or writing routine. Waiting until the beginning of the year to start anything new, healthy or positive isn’t necessary. Most years won’t turn out the way you hoped or planned. My 2018 certainly didn’t. My mom fell ill twice and I was one of her primary caregivers for extended periods of time. It set me back on my yearly reading and walking goals, but that’s okay. Reaching my goals wasn’t nearly as important as making sure Mom got what she needed. And I always knew I could start anew. The odd thing is, I didn’t. I track my yearly goals on an app called Persistence. As I glance at my statistics for 2018, I’m currently only at 49% of goal for reading and 84% of goal for walking. The app easily allows users to start new goals at any moment. Why didn’t I? I guess because it might’ve felt like cheating. Or maybe I thought I would catch up. I tend to overestimate, both professionally and personally. It’s one of my biggest weaknesses. And since I can’t afford to overestimate professionally (deadlines have to be met), my professional life bleeds into my personal life. Do they make an app for that? Yeah, probably not. But I can use my current goal tracking app to start over when life intervenes. That’s one of my plans heading in 2019. How about you? How early in the new year do you give up? How can you combat that? How often are you willing to hit the reset button and then keep going? Comments are closed.
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