Almost halfway through 2015 I must ask you my dear reader, where do you stand with the New Year resolutions you set back in January? Stay honest with me. More importantly, stay honest with you. No worries if you cannot claim success right now. You still possess time. Go look at how many days remain in June. Then glance at July, August, September, October, November, and December.
Again I’ll say you still possess time. A big problem with New Year resolutions involves their fleeting nature. The clean slate a new calendar year brings refreshes. Starting anew sparks enthusiasm. What happens however when January 1st turns to April 16th? By that point the refreshment grows stale. The sparked enthusiasm fizzles out. Bluntly, New Year resolutions die.
Okay, maybe I should soften my tone because I do want to share good news. Not all New Year resolutions die. In fact I’m going to guess your New Year resolutions contain a heartbeat yet. Sure, the heartbeat might exist within a coma. Don’t fret though!
People wake up from comas and move on with life. Well I’m writing this blog post to provide your New Year resolutions a wakeup call. WAKE UP! Stop letting the daily grind suck the life from you. Instead, rekindle the enthusiasm you enjoyed back on January 1st.
Obviously the aforementioned proves much easier to say opposed to do. Allow me to help courtesy offering a few pointers.
Public Accountability
A go-to tactic I used the past few years entails public accountability. Every month in 2013 I wrote a “Tracking New Year Resolutions” post where I held myself accountable regarding if I reached my goals to blog weekly, put out two video blogs a month, and adhere to all my freelancing deadlines.
Fast forward to 2015 and I continue to use public accountability. Just now I’m more selective with the “public.” Not due to a bad experience, rather my 2015 resolutions remain more personal. So I’m confiding in select friends as opposed to the entire blogosphere.
Form Positive Habits
Finally after nearly six years freelancing I feel I’m getting a handle on my time management issues. Something I contribute to forming positive habits. For instance, what I call time journaling. I’m writing down how I’m spending every hour, every day. Suddenly through said habit I found pressure to optimize my time.
Admittedly forming positive habits stands a challenge. I tried time journaling sporadically in previous years but I never could implement the practice regularly. Perhaps I lasted two weeks before I faltered. So I reflected on those failures and determined what I needed to do to learn from those past mistakes. With determination you can overcome any challenge.
Use Pump-Up Passwords
For one last tidbit today, create passwords which will keep you pumped with enthusiasm. You know passwords for social media, online banking, whatever. Develop a password meaningful to you. Due to security reasons you will want something more complicated than Go[Your Name Here]. For an example if not for today’s post I might use 12bEasTmodenow.
12 represent 2012, the year I first watched a video from motivational speaker Eric Thomas (aka ET). I capitalize the “e” and “t” in “beast” to signify ET. “Beast mode” encompasses a concept Eric Thomas discusses. “Now” projects urgency. Typing in such a password every time you check email or you sign onto Twitter will keep your enthusiasm levels thriving.
Blog post dismissed! Go chase down those 2015 New Year resolutions once again. If you wish to share a tip which works for you maintaining motivation, leave a comment below. I look forward to seeing the advice.
