Failing Resolutions

01 Jan 2015

So… maybe making a resolution to write 250 words a day wasn’t the best project to start right before Christmas and New Years. I can see that now. But, this slow start demonstrates a truth about almost any resolution.

You will break it

I’m not hating on your willpower or the quality of your resolutions, but let’s be honest at some point in the future (which is a very long time) you’ll most likely break your resolution. If you committed to better eating, you’ll probably have a donut, not smoking - cigarette, exercise daily - you’ll miss a day. Whatever it is, it doesn’t really matter.

The key is what you do afterwards.

I used to feel that if I’d failed once in my resolution then I might as well stop trying to keep it because I had already broken it. I don’t know if I’m alone in this (I doubt it), but at some point I realized the flaw in what how I was holding myself accountable, and punishing (or rewarding) myself by dropping my resolutions. So then I figured something out.

Forgive yourself and move on

Once I stopped beating myself up about my failures, it became much easier to hold on to resolutions. Each one was no longer a rule that I was breaking, but was a guide to a better way of doing ____. So, even if I did miss a day or eat something I shouldn’t my resolution still stands.