Going up?

The last day of the year and the day everyone is searching for something to signify the newness of a new year...New Year resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking, be happier, spend less money, make better grades...the list goes on and on and on.  But how many of us actually resolve these resolutions?  A very small amount of us have in us the ability to fulfill our New Years dreams of a better us, probably because a day we've never seen before doesn't continue to give us the ambition the first day of every year does.  It serves it's purpose to change the calenders and confuse us all when we're writing the dates but as far as changing us as individuals, it doesn't always live up to the hype.

So how can we move forward into the better us?  Sure it helps to have a starting point, and what better time than a new year, but we have to remember that change happens over time, not in one turning of a calender year, but in continuous steps.  Change is a process, not an event.

Event VS Process - Develop your plan, make a strategy, seek growth, realize you'll fail, and try again.  Events give us the motivation (New Years, birthdays, motivational conferences, revelations, marriage, babies)...the process is the time after the "honeymoon" has worn off.  It's in this time you will decide to remember your motivation despite circumstance or moods and challenge yourself to continue on with the original plan.

The important thing to remember is how human you are.  We make mistakes, forget our passions, miss exits and get lost...we are not perfect and we shouldn't hold ourselves to that standard.  But we should expect excellence and do our best to see it come out of us everyday. 

Today, make your decision not to make a resolution but to make a life-style change.  Whether it's to brush your teeth before you go to bed or give your time and money to a charity...realize that it takes more than just saying it to keep doing it, it takes waking up every morning and remembering your motivation so that you can accomplish your goals.

Rome wasn't built in a day...