The Only New Year’s Resolution You Need
It is no secret that at the beginning of each year we write down a list of the goals we would like to achieve. Whether it is to lose weight, learn how to cook, start (or finish) school, write a book, begin a long overdue personal project, start a healthy lifestyle, etc. However, we always find ourselves at the end of the year, wondering where we went wrong and why we did not achieve half of the things we had planned out. And today, I want to give you the answer.
The thing about the goals we set for ourselves every year is that often times they’re not easy and definitely not comfortable to achieve. They require hard work, new habits, a different demeanor and outlook on life in general. Where we fail is, we rely on motivation to do all of that. I, personally, relied on motivation to do all of that.
The day it all shifted for me, was the day I understood success and goals have absolutely nothing to do with motivation or will power, for that matter. We spend our entire lives thinking we will get results by only taking action when we “feel like it”. However, the secret to actually being successful and achieving all of our resolutions is summed up in just one word: Consistency.
Consistency is a word we’ve all heard before, but never really practice, and it is also the only New Year’s Resolution you need to achieve everything you want in life. Jeff Olson in his book The Slight Edge, speaks about the importance of being consistent to be successful. It’s not about luck, inheritance or privilege. It’s about being able to see the result of consistent small actions, but in the future.
The problem with consistency is that it is sometimes boring. We live in an era in which we are so used to technology and everything being one click away. We live in a world of instant messaging, fast food and one day shipping. We practice everything but patience. And, you guessed it, consistency takes patience. We are so used to getting everything right now, that we forget success takes time and most times, we will not see instant results.
We are so used to the technological era we live in, that we forget our lives are not just an instant. The difference between successful people and the rest, is that they understand that success does not happen in the blink of an eye. They understand that the small actions taken today might not give us the instant gratification we are so used to, but eventually, as compound interest does, consistency will make success unstoppable.
As we begin 2021, I invite you to make consistency your only New Year’s Resolution, as it is all you will need to achieve all of those goals and dreams you’ve had in your list for so many years now.
Happy New Year and welcome to the beginning of a successful life.
