So today is Sunday December 31, 2006; the day before we all changed our lives forever.

Apparently.

We have told ourselves that tomorrow is the day.
The new us.
Leaner, lighter, happier, more relaxed, richer, more balanced… different.
Better.
Between Christmas and New Years we ate our own body weight in food because…that’s what we do and anyway…we start tomorrow!

So all is well.

I can justify and rationalize whatever I want; Shut up Harper.

My body, my life.
Anyway, I deserved it.

We overeat, drink too much, and lurch toward the end of the year, certain that January 1 is coming…and everything will be different.

Somehow.

Sure we’ve made and broken resolutions and promises before… but this year is going to be different.

Lesson 1: If nothing changes, nothing changes.

If you want next year to be the best year of your life, you need to establish why and how it will be different this time. Bearing in mind that a good or a bad year is not about situations, circumstances, events or other people; it’s about you

Your options.
Your attitude.
Your ability to cope with discomfort.
His ability to create new standards and ‘rules’.
Your ability to persevere when you have previously thrown in the towel.
Your ability to keep doing it, even when doing it isn’t fun, cool, or sexy (consistency).

So tomorrow we start losing weight.
get fit
Give up the fumes.
Cutting back on alcohol.
Cursing less.
Fixing relationships.
Changing bad clothes.

Yes, tomorrow is the day.

I’m glad it’s not today; not emotionally ready today.

I just heard an interesting statistic on the news: This New Year, four million Australians will be going on a diet. That’s about twenty percent of our population.

If we use the same math in the United States, we end up with sixty million dieters.

Jenny Craig must be rubbing her hands together.

Lesson 2: The truth is, for most people, the only change January 1 brings is a short-term (usually less than a fortnight, often less than a week) behavior change.

For personal development types like me, January 1st is the most interesting day of the year. It is the only universal day where everyone talks about goals, dreams, plans and hopes; In short, we all talk about creating a better life (however that plays out for us).

We talk about it, we dream about it.
But often we don’t (really) plan for it, we sweat for it, we don’t sacrifice for it, we don’t work for it, we don’t feel uncomfortable about it.
We just ‘hope’ that it will happen.
May success fall on us from a great height.

We don’t believe it.
We do not persevere.
We don’t finish what we start.

In my work I have seen (literally) thousands of talented, intelligent and capable people spend years going around in circles.
Frustrated years.
Years of low performance.
Years making excuses and years waiting for the right moment.
Years making and breaking promises and resolutions.

Our greatest challenge in seeking change for good is not our ability (or lack thereof), nor opportunities, luck, potential, skills, education (or lack thereof), nor our age or gender; it’s our ability to consistently do the things we need to do to create the desired results, regardless of how we feel, day after day.

Lesson 3: Motivation is temporary.

For most people, motivation is a feeling; an emotional state “I feel motivated because I just saw this amazing movie clip…”
If we only do it when we feel motivated, we will never create real change (forever)…because no one is motivated 24/7.

Success always has less to do with motivation and more to do with some very unsexy things like planning, self-control, discipline, organization, time management, decision-making, and mental toughness.
Not sexy, not glamorous, but effective.

I can tell you what you want to hear, or I can tell you the truth.

Lesson 4. We don’t need another resolution, we need a revolution.

A revolution in the way of doing things.
A revolution in the way of approaching the coming year.
A revolution in our head.

I hate the whole concept of January 1st being the day of a fresh start.

If only we all understood that every day is the day.

A better life is not about the New Year….

It’s about the New You.