Life is short. Ridiculously, fleetingly short. Except on the days it can feel long. Ultimately time passes as fast or as slowly as we perceive it to.
Regardless of how fast or slow time flits by, there’s nothing more true than it does indeed pass, and we are never promised tomorrow. That’s why it’s so important to live in the now, to focus on today, to do exactly what you can do right now, in this moment.
That’s also why resolutions are a cop-out. On any given day, the bottom line is that we do the things we want to do. And when we don’t do them, that’s our choice.
Vowing to make changes in your life “this year”, or setting new resolutions for “this year” is an exercise in making yourself feel better about yourself, not really an exercise in making measurable and lasting changes.
Don’t Say It, Do It
Making lasting changes in any area of life requires action, not merely intention. The road to hell and all that. When there’s something in your life you want to change for the better, if you want it bad enough, you change it. If you don’t… well then you probably didn’t want it bad enough in the first place.
The same principle applies to business. When there’s something in your business that you want bad enough, you make it happen. You reach far and wide and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Does that mean you shouldn’t set goals? Of course not.
See, there’s a big difference between goals and resolutions. Setting goals requires careful thought. Setting goals requires purpose and intention, coupled with action in order to manifest results.
Resolutions are weak promises to yourself, just waiting to be broken. Rarely does any real and concentrated follow-through happen with resolutions. They have become cheap in the economy of life, easily discarded when they become inconvenient or too ‘hard’.
I propose to you the idea that life is hard. The things you do are infinitely more important than the things you say. In the best world, the things you do will reflect the things you say, effectively marking you a person of character. Even when life is hard.
Change Starts Now
So do set goals. Goals are healthy. Goals promote progress. Change begins in a moment, triggered by action. Your goals will help you define your actions.
Just stop wasting time. Ditch the resolutions, set some actual goals, and do the thing already. Change something in your life for the better right now, this very day. Change something for the better in someone else’s world, right now, this very day.
Fact is, most people won’t bother doing either of those things. But if you do, you’re someone I’d like to know. Leave a comment and let’s talk.