Every year right after Christmas I say to myself, Here we go again. We enter the land of New Year’s resolutions and social media post about becoming a new you to match the New Year. Now don’t get me wrong, resolutions aren’t bad, in theory. But in our society these resolutions have become nothing more than a quick list of things we “wish” could be different but there is rarely consistent follow up that pushes us to lasting change.
I have a plan for you. Will you try it? I want you to do 3 things to make your resolutions, realities.
First, I encourage you to convert your resolutions into a series of affirmations. Take a resolution like losing weight, and create a affirmation that will help transform the way you think. For example, my affirmation for not overeating or overindulging “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God” or simply “I will only eat what I need”. Whatever your affirmation is, it should be something that is easy to remember, that you constantly remind yourself and that you commit to doing.
The next thing you should do is start new habits. It is a widely accepted view that it takes 21 days to start or break a habit. The best way to break a habit is to start a new one. So I encourage you to participate in my 21 for 21 challenge. What’s that you ask? Its committing to working productively toward one of your goals for a minimum of 21 minutes a day for 21 days. Use the #21for21 hashtag to allow us to see your progress and so we can support you on your journey, you can start this at any during 2017. We are going to make sure our resolutions cause evolution this year.
Finally I encourage you to purchase a surrogate for your goal. For example buy a plant, a beautiful plant, but you only get to provide proper care for that beautiful plant when you follow through on completing action items for your goals. So if you watered your dream you can water your plant. If you starve your dream, then starve your plant of something essential like sunlight. We need to begin to view our dreams as living things, you need to know the answer to the great question “what happens to a dream deferred” you need to see that illustrated by how you impact the health of that beautiful plant of yours, because really your dreams need the same things that plants do; water (commitment), Sunlight (Hard work), and good soil (faith in God).
I pray that 2017 is the most successful year of your life! Remember don’t become a prisoner of your past, when you were meant to be the architect of your future.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:1-3