So, how are those New Year’s Resolutions going? It’s been about three days. Are you still holding strong?
According to the University of Scranton*, 25% of resolutions never survive the first week. By the end of the second week, another 4% have dropped off the bandwagon. Only 46% of resolutions ever see the six-month mark.
I have a theory about why these dismal facts exist. We set lofty (often unrealistic) goals and then overwhelm ourselves with a picture too big. If we focus smaller, we will succeed. This doesn’t require smaller goals, necessarily; perhaps we just need a smaller picture.
You can create a habit in one day.
It will take more than one day to sustain that habit, but creating it only takes one day, one decision to do what you really want to do for that day.
That’s the good news, and I have better news: That habit doesn’t have to start on January 1st or end on January 3rd.
“We are at the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities.”
- Rudyard Kipling
Most of the world (including writers) ascribe to the myth that it takes 30 days to establish a habit. Okay … but, if a habit can be broken in one day (which it can), then it can also be created in one day.
All it takes is choice.
Make a choice and then repeat that choice as often as you believe it to be important.
If you want to see change in your life — in your relationships, your writing habits, your health … whatever it may be — you will not find it by chance. It will not come through some fortuitous accident of fate. Rather, it will come by choice. Wake up each day determined to act like the person you want to become.
If you want to be a successful writer, choose to write today. Don’t worry about tomorrow or the next thirty days. Focus on today.
And tomorrow you can focus on tomorrow.
One day at a time, one choice at a time … Before you know it you’ll be living the life you want, one step closer to being the person you want to be.
*Source: Journal of of Clinical Psychology, published 12.13.2012.
