Is 2015 really going to be different?

This is the time of year many people start thinking about setting goals for the coming year. Call it what you may, resolutions, intentions, outcomes, goals, it’s all the same. We set an intention to do something and more times than not, within a few days we give in, give up and say it’s just not worth it.
Why is that? Why do we end one year, and begin the next with a specific outcome in mind and within a very short period of time go back to our old habit?
Whether it be to lose weight, quit smoking, be more loving, increase revenues, or exercise more, it doesn’t take much for us to give up.
Sure, we try different wording. Rather than lose weight we say, “I will get to my optimum weight.” Rather than quit smoking we say, “I will be smoke free.” Rather than…
Then we attempt to achieve our outcome by journaling about it. Or we say affirmations. Or we vision what we want. Or we…. you fill in the blanks.
The fact is, until we are completely committed to an outcome nothing we try will work. The reason? We are trying instead of simply doing.
Whatever it is you claim you want in the coming year, it will happen in one simple way; doing things differently than you have done in the past.
If it’s weight you want to lose, it will happen when you change what you put in your mouth. What you put in your mouth will change by what you get at the grocery store or order at the restaurant.
If it’s to quit smoking it’s a matter of not buying the pack of cigarettes. Or of not accepting the offer of a cigarette by someone who sees you stressing and thinks they are actually doing you a favor by offering you a cigarette.
Whatever it is that you claim you will, or will not do in the coming year, it is done one day at a time, one hour at a time and often one moment at a time.
It is not done in one fell swoop. It is done in baby steps. Simple as that.
Whatever you want, need and are willing to work for, you have to be so flipping committed to it that you cut off all other possibilities.
There is no blaming others for you not achieving what you want. If losing weight is your objective, you cannot point your finger at the person who offered you the piece of cake you said yes to simply to be polite. A not would have been more appropriate.
If you want to build your business it will take more than simply wanting it. You have to be willing to do things differently than 99% of the people who say they are committed to building their business.
It may mean staying off social networks for the majority of your day in order to focus on revenue producing activities. It may mean spending one hour a day studying a new technology that will take you to the next level. It may require you turn off your phone and not get caught up in someone else’s drama.
It might mean attending a networking event in your local community in order to meet other goal oriented entrepreneurs. Maybe it means attending industry specific conferences.
Whatever it is you say you want to achieve in the coming year, it is really up to you whether or not you do so.
Maybe you are finally ready to write that book you’ve been talking about for the past five years. The only way it will happen is for you to commit to working on the manuscript each and every day… no matter what.
Success doesn’t happen with the big actions we take, but rather with the little things we do day in and day out.
Begin today to take one small action toward the outcome you say you want. By doing so, when you look back over 2015 you will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you did all you could to change your life once and for all.