Tony Guadagnino is a marketing consultant. Located in New Jersey, his clients are based across the country, focusing on social media to build their presence on the internet. He studied creative writing in college and is currently working his first novel on the subject of bullying. He lives with his partner Mark.
One month of the New Year has passed, and similarly to last year, thousands of people have already broken their New Year’s Resolutions. It seems the more traditional event in January of every year is the breaking of personal promises or accomplishments that each person puts on themselves on the first day of every New Year. I have never made resolutions for myself; instead, I set goals. (By April 1, I will achieve …….). It’s much easier for me to set targets and give myself an ample amount of time to hit them successfully. I have my own personal goals set for 2016, and one of them has already been reached.
For those of you who may have already failed your resolutions, I recommend the following (and you may wish to write this down so you don’t forget.) My recommendation is this: START OVER! Do the following:
1) Take the pressured rules you set for yourself and rewrite them as your own personal goals;
2) Allot yourself enough time to complete them (a month, three months, six months);
3) Hit the reset button of your life and start again.
I have seen so many people give up after “breaking the resolution.” How many Facebook posts and twitter messages do you see during this period of time of the year with people griping about breaking their resolutions, either directly (“Once again, I didn’t stick to my resolution.”) or indirectly (“I just can’t seem to lose any weight,” posted 13 hours after sharing a picture of a slice of chocolate fudge cake, sitting next to a 1 lb. bowl of spaghetti. I have never been a member of either organization, but I’m pretty positive that neither Weight Watchers nor Jenny Craig list spaghetti and chocolate cake on their menus.) How many people make excuses about not having time to work out because they have no time to get to a gym? Gyms are not the only place to get a successful workout. There are lots of at-home workout routines on the internet; find one that works best for you, print it out, pick the day when you will begin your new training.
If you’re starting your own business, don’t give up after one setback; keep trying. Winston Churchill had been quoted as saying, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” I have been on my own for over two years, and I had gone through some very tough times. Family members who love me and are thinking of best interest have recommended that I give up my dream and find a secure 9-5 job. (Who just thought of Dolly Parton when you read that?) It had been an option that I had considered at times, but if I had done that, I would have given up my dream of being my own boss, not having to fit the confines of someone else’s business, and owning something that was started by me. “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm,” Winston Churchill (again). To the resolutions who feel you failed, my advice is this: Don’t give up on your dream, nor should you postpone it for “one day.” Because “one day” is always in the future, and “one day” will never become “today.”
If you broke your resolution in January, set up your more practical goals and re-start it in February. Should you break them a second time, then try again in the month of March. There is no “Resolution Law” which states that “YOU MUST START YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN JANUARY” and “IF YOU FAIL, YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR TO TRY AGAIN.” Excuses Be Gone! Take the power out of a fictitious deadline and put it back in your own hands. Set the goals of what you want to accomplish in 2016, and direct them towards your success. Resolutions don’t work, but achieving your goals will.