2017 is in the rear view mirror and 2018 has officially kicked off with bitter cold, snow days, and a HUGE amount of email and tasks to respond to from the holiday season. As much as I enjoy the holidays, I have to admit I am glad to be back into the routine. The discipline of having things to complete and routine patterns are a little comforting, despite their tediousness. I have already realized a few things, though, about my resolutions and performance in 2018. First, although I am starting to eat better, I have not kept up with my goals on eating after the holidays. That should fix itself, though, over the next couple of weeks. I have had my resolution to have more patience with people tested fairly significantly already in week 1. I am only one book away from meeting my goal of reading one book per week, although I am close to finishing the one I started this week, so I don’t consider this to be too far off track. Finally, my goal to post 3-4 times during my week has obviously not been successfully accomplished in the first week. So, with 1 week down and 51 to go, there is a lot of room for growth.
As always during this season, I think about goals, resolutions, etc., and the many reasons so many of us end up failing to keep them for much longer than a month. I really think it is because we have our measurement methods wrong. We set a goal to do something every day or every couple of days and the first time we don’t end up doing it, we end up determined, yet already thinking we are behind and at some point behind becomes never catch up, so we give up. What we should be doing is saying that “by the end of the year I want to have accomplished ‘x'”. That way we don’t start undermining our potential success right away, rather we give ourselves the opportunity to pick up and start again tomorrow. That simple mindset change of “it’s okay to start over tomorrow” can make all the difference between successfully meeting a goal or giving up. Anyway, I have found that to be the case for me. I am much more likely to pick up and start again if my time frame is by the end of the year, rather than every day.
The second thing I have discovered is a show called “Better Late Than Never”, which has William Shatner, Henry Winkler, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman going on a European trip together. I have only watched the first episode, but it is a very fun show and it is great to see these four different personalities share experiences and build their friendships as they travel together. It reminded me a little of the trips I have made with my fellow co-authors, in the sense that half of the fun is the interaction between the four of them (or 3 of us) and the rest is in the travel events themselves. Plus it serves to remind me that it is important to seize opportunities as they arise and do the things on my bucket list sooner rather than later. I was struck that none of the four stars of the show had ever been to the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany) and they were awestruck by the beauty of the Alps. I don’t want to wait until I am 86, like William Shatner, to see some of these things for the first time.
Finally, I’d like to leave you with a couple of quotes, a book recommendation, and a throwback song that I rediscovered this week thanks to some old video games. The song is I Don’t Wanna Stop by Ozzy Osbourne. It was part of the Madden football games and it was refreshing to find it again. The book I highly recommend is Ready, Player One, which is being released as a movie in March. Do yourself a favor and read the book first. It is a mix of 80’s references, the Matrix, and classic video games. It is a quick read and a very, very good one. Last, I leave you with two quotes to kick off your year.
The first is from C.S. Lewis. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream another dream.”
The second is from Timothy Ferris. “The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone else is aiming for base hits. There is just less competition for bigger goals. If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
Have a great week and good luck on your new year!