I hate resolutions! There I said it. Yes, I feel better.
This year I am taking a moment and reflecting on 2015 and coming to the slow realization that instead of following the traditional “crowd”, I am going to the one who drives on the right side of the road (not literally, I mean I am an insurance agent after all) and create the Anti New Year’s Resolution.
Stupid, maybe?
Brave, doubtful?
Bold, yes!
Growing up my parents, who just so happen to also sign my paychecks so I’ll tread lightly, never pushed us to make new year’s resolutions. Sure, the encouraged us to pursue goals and our dreams, but New Year’s Resolutions never.
So all in all, I am not sure where the “guilt” comes from to have the Anti Resolution, but regardless I am owning my guilt and going to push through it.
For those of you who don’t have the pleasure of knowing my beautiful wife, Hannah, she keeps me grounded and sane. She believes wholeheartedly in goal setting and also in wanting to strive for better. However, a resolution maker she is not.
Resolution disasters
Over the years I have been an admitted resolution creator and of course in my mind they all sounded like great ideas, well at the time anyway.
- Workout more (or at all)
This last a solid 3 days. Okay fine, when I say 3 days I mean I drove by the gym gazed inside and realized it was far too busy for me to actually venture in. I would come back later when I could get full use of the treadmills.
- Eat healthier
Do people eat green paperish things that come from the ocean? Yes, I mean seaweed.
Better yet do people actually take the time to plan their meals to a calorie count as well as forgo eating out in the attempt to lose a few lbs? Above all that why do they have to wait until January 1 to make this “lifestyle” change. No thank you.
- Volunteer more
Man. I’ve found one that I legitimately need to simply just do. I’ll take the thrown stones on this one. I suck. I need to volunteer and find something that makes me happy to help with. This one had no business being on my resolution list. It should be an all the time thing. I will do better.
- Spend more time with family
Oh those people.
I mean thank you Mom and Dad for allowing me into this amazing business and helping teach me the ways of a business I have passion for.
Thanks 😉
These were the various things on my list for years and years and I failed miserably, clearly. Because at this point in my life I am still not The Rock, I don’t eat kale salad, I clearly don’t volunteer enough, and welp… I just saw my Mom & Dad on Christmas so that should count for something.
I was a part of the 92% of Americans who did not succeed in fulfilling their “resolutions”.
My 30s were going to be different
In the beginning of 2013 I was fresh off of turning 30 that December and knew I wanted 2013 to be a massive year.
I was beginning the next “DECADE” of my life. I was going to come into my 30’s like the roaring thunder that I was. So in true fashion I had to make “resolutions”. Here they are in all their glory.
- Run every other day starting with 1 mile.
- Do 25 push-up’s and 50 sit up’s on non-running days.
- Stop drinking all sodas.
- Play golf twice a week when it’s above 40*.
- Volunteer with the middle school group at church.
Again I am a failure at life.
However being a failure at my resolutions wasn’t enough.
I kept a chart, which I have since thrown out so that I don’t have evidence of my failure, and I did well for the first few weeks in January. After that I made excuses and stopping doing them all together.
This is when it hit me. We are all so busy creating resolutions to fail at that we are missing the key point here on reflection.
What have we done in the last year? Where have we come from?
What has changed us so deeply that we have decided to not only change the course of the next year but to make sure we never go back.
What’s yours?
Of course 2016 will be different. Every year is different however, somehow every year the week before the end of the year we are all trying to come up with our next “BIG THING”.
So this year I propose the following.
Instead of making resolutions, let’s make anti-lutions. Who’s with me?
I am just going to go with it.
If I feel like going to bed 20 minutes after my cats go to bed, guess what this brave guy is going to do it. Those cats don’t control this man.
(Or maybe they do, I mean they sit by their food bowl waiting for it to come on at 10:00pm every night. After they finish their night time meal it’s time to come down to harass Hannah and I to take them back upstairs and put them to bed.)
I am going to work as hard as I do on August 3rd and remember that New Year’s Resolutions only guarantee one thing.
FAILURE.
One thing I know for sure as a business owner is failure should never be on your to-do list.
So eat that entire Costco size bag of M&M’s, spend more time in front of your electronic devices and join me in the fight against Resolutions.
