The Eternal Optimist: Putting resolve into resolutions

2021 stretches ahead, looking for now very much like 2020. How many of you have forgotten your new year’s resolutions? Are you still struggling with weight, fitness or business issues that you promised yourself you were going to address this year?

It’s a recurring theme. We know change is needed, but life and business keep getting in the way. We start with the best of intentions, but the motivation goes and things continue as before, leaving us bemoaning our lack of willpower or drive. Why is that, and what could we do differently to help achieve the outcomes that we want this year?

Habit forming

The “why” is fairly simple. Change is hard. Whether our diet, our exercise regime or the way our business operates, change is challenging: it hurts. We find the status quo easy. The current way is etched into us so deeply that we don’t have to think about it. Doing it differently takes thought and commitment, and is uncomfortable at least until a new normal is created. Just think about anything you have failed to change in your business or personal life, and you will see an echo of this pain point. We all know the prize we are seeking, and at some level we know the effort will be worthwhile, but often it just feels like too large a mountain to climb.

Resolutions, new year or otherwise, are the worst. Why? Because we declare big goals and then expect quick results. For anyone who has dieted or committed to a 10k, you know how slowly the pounds come off or the kilometres go on – often too slowly, so we fall off the wagon and straight back into our old habits. As these new habits are not well formed, they are not yet etched deeply enough into our daily routines, so giving them up is easy. “I’m too busy today to make a salad”, “I’ve had a tough day – I deserve a wine”, or “I’m too busy to do business development” are all easy excuses to break the new routine. Once broken, most of us seldom re-commit.

“... starts with a single step”

Let’s take business development as an example of something we want to work on this year (the principles, though, work with everything). Here are a few things to do differently. First, commit simply to the change, not the goal. You know you want to be better, and initially that is enough. There is little to be achieved at this stage by setting big goals; you just want to be a little better every day. Next, look at the minimum level that you can commit to every day towards that goal, with little or no effort. Maybe it is just one phone call to a new prospect, or one letter to a client that you haven’t heard from for a while. Whatever it is, it has to be so minimal that you know you can do it every day without fail, and that you will. Better yet, set a time to have it done by.

If you start on this path, a few things will begin to happen. Most importantly, you will be creating a new routine, a new good habit. There will be days when you do far more than the minimum: we all know that starting something is the hardest part, so once you’ve done your minimum you may find you are happy to do more. You are however safe in the knowledge that only the minimum ever has to get done. You are also released from the shackles of looking for a quick payback for your efforts. Anything will be a bonus, because you’ve not had to put much effort in. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I’ve sat with so many people who have shared great plans for change. The difference between those who succeeded and those who failed was universally that the former did something and the latter did naught. Change is hard, but it needn’t be as hard as we make it, and success is always habit forming.