Successful New Year: Highlights from this Morning's Show

Like it or not, The New Year brought with it lots of attention on improving ourselves with New Resolutions for this year. Personally, I always reevaluate myself every year; but typically after a while I'm like everyone else and fall back to my normal routine.  Studies show that 4 out of 5 people break their resolutions.  That doesn't have to be the case.  God wants you and I to succeed in life.  Matthew West tweeted yesterday, "New Year's resolutions fail when they start with words like 'I will' but they succeed wehen we ask for help and say 'With God's help, I will."

I want us to succeed in actually accomplishing our goals for this year.  So when setting your goals keep in mind these words "Less is more".  Set a limit for your amount of resolutions. It’s perfectly ok if you don’t learn a completely new language, write a novel, fully cut out sodas, visit Europe, bike every day, learn to make your own butter, and repel down the tallest mountain in Asia within the next twelve months. Your list should be inspiring, not daunting. Find goals that excite you, but keep your expectations realistic.  You may not be able to complete them all as quickly as you like.  By making a couple of diverse, meaningful resolutions, you will limit the opportunities for failure and find yourself more excited about the ones you've chosen.

Have you ever considered that some of the things that you feel you need to change about yourself were actually intentional characteristics that God gave you for a specific purpose.  Some people have scientific or mathmatical minds others are better with words.  Some are artistic and that can appear to be random or sporatic because of all the creative ideas.  Embrace who God made you to be.  Build on your strengths. 

Here's something else that I want you to keep in mind.  It sounds counter productive, but prepare yourself for the inevitable setbacks.  You are human, and whatever it is you are trying to accomplish will get difficult.  So when it does, don't give up as soon as you hit a wall.  Just change your mindset when it comes to your goals.  Instead of Interpreting a single mistake as a failure, think of it as a mere bump in the road that's part of the path to success.  If your goal for this year seems a little daunting a good thing to do is to Set smaller goals or check points.  It will make it more manageable if you break it into little chunks instead of trying to tackle the whole thing at once.  You will be more likely to reach your longterm goals if you break it into several smaller ones.  Have your family and friends join you.  The buddy system will keep you inspired and challenge you a bit.  If you have a friend who loves to run, and you are interested in beginning that person would be a great motivator and keep you accountible as well.  Finally, don't forget to give yourself rewards when you do a good job.  Celebrate yourself; you absolutely deserve it.