A lot of people just want to get this weird year over with, and then they’ll make their New Year New You resolutions. Except the resolutions aren’t even new for a lot of people because about 80% of them failed by mid-February, so here we go again.
Same 5 pounds. Getting your schedule under control. Whatever it is for you. What is the point of this? I got an idea!
What If?
What if…and stay with me here because this may be different…what if the unresolved resolution served a purpose precisely because it was unresolved! What if we actually got it done, whatever it was, and never had to think about it again, ever.
Then what would we be thinking about as much as we obsessed about that 5 lbs or whatever it was. Something scary, something outside of our comfort zone, I am going to guess.
After all, we’ve been thinking about the unresolved thing so much for so long that it has become a normal, natural part of life and living just the way it is—unresolved.
BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal
Good to Great author Jim Collins introduced the BHAG, stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and we should all have one. But I’m suggesting here that we all already DO have one, and as long as it is masked we can’t even know what it is.
Reverse engineering here, that would make the failed resolution protective against the scary unknown that lies beyond. Like what?
In my own case, I don’t even know what happens after I get my thing done but, by golly, I am going to find out. And I am going to find out by getting the thing from last year done and out of the way, NOW, way before the clock strikes midnight 2021.
This makes the idea of 2021 not just an end to 2020 but potentially the first day of one of the greatest adventures of my life. And yours?
Join Me?
If you can relate, hope you will join me, get it done or put it down, tag and share with anyone you think needs to hear this, and let us know in the comments below what glorious goal you find waiting for you!
Warm wishes always,
Madelaine
I am wondering if the resolution can be small but important. Then, there is progress, even if the item is not big. Suppose the goal was to clean a closet. Not a big deal although it might be filled with memories. Suppose the goal was reaching out to a friend that one had somehow overlooked? Not a huge deal although it might have benefits. Suppose the goal was to do one act of kindness. Not a big deal either but valuable. Just saying that the goal could be small, even if one has to think big to get to it.
Yes, Karen, distinguishing between thought and action, we can still think big — and then take action steps to get there that are not so big they overwhelm and shut us down, but big enough to keep the brain inspired by the novelty and wanting, therefore, to do more, and more, and more. And, before we know it we are there. An alternative approach to change management is taking The Big Leap, which I for one just happen to love. Step, Step, Jump…as we used to call it when I was on track and field. Thanks for weighing in!!!