Have you heard of Quitter’s Day? The day when people tend to give up on their New Year’s Resolutions. Yes, there is a day for that! I have been thinking about a New Year’s resolutions and remembered how my life changed five years and seven months ago.
My epiphany came with a piece of advice from my friend Mark. He suggested skipping the New Year’s resolution for a change and only comparing myself to myself! Instead of setting goals for an entire year that I would likely not follow through on, all I had to do was to try to be better that day than I was the day before. That simple!
It gave me great relief not to feel obligated to keep something up for an entire year. Though it is important to be optimistic about the coming year, it is unrealistic to expect drastic changes.
I don’t have to have long-term goals.
I don’t have to have unrealistic expectations.
I don’t have to compare myself to others, like bodybuilders in magazines or celebrity CEOs.
I don’t have to be Father or Husband of the Year.
What I do have is an opportunity for a do-over each day!
As it turns out, only about 9% of people follow through on their New Year’s resolutions, and most drop out within the first month. There even is a day named after this, Quitter’s Day!
It’s much more manageable to have goals set for each day. This outlook allows me to cherish unplanned moments and appreciate the days I will never be able to beat. It also allows me to stay optimistic after days I wish to never repeat.
Just like the stock market, most days have a gradual increase. I marvel over the great days as a gift and pardon myself for the bad ones. A very helpful lesson I learned about the bad days is to remind yourself, “Just because I had a bad day doesn’t mean I have a bad life.”
This has been a lifesaver for me! In the past, bad days would easily be reasons to give up. Just like in the stock market analogy, I would have sold and never had a chance to recover my losses. Instead, by opting to be better each day, I can recover my losses rather than selling prematurely, so to speak.
The key is to act promptly and work on fixing the problem so it doesn’t persist. Not acting on an imminent issue would cause me to have sleepless nights. I might even obsess over a molehill and make it a mountain. While it may not be desirable, it is often better to run into the fire rather than from it before a slightly uncomfortable situation becomes untenable.
The secret to a peaceful year is not a New Year’s resolution that you will quit working on after a few weeks. It is the pursuit of being a better version of yourself each day and working proactively on the issues that might lead to bad days.
So, I am not making New Year’s resolutions this year. In 2023, I will take Mark’s advice and strive to be a continuously better version of myself. I will keep making resolutions and be grateful every day that I can wake up and give my goals another shot.
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