This Sunday we will approach the exact middle of the year. One hundred and eighty-three(ish) days ago many of us set out on a journey to achieve our goals and dreams. Every January we gather our dreams up, ready to start something new and exciting. But by June and July most of us have stopped or given up on those dreams and goals. Why is this? Why do we quit when the race isn’t even halfway over?
The problem with setting goals in January has nothing to do with crowds or weather, or anything like that. In my opinion, it’s more about timing. We let a few days slip by, a week, a month and we look at the calendar and say, “What’s the use. I will never get this done.” Or maybe it’s the opposite. We work and push and work until we are dead tired and have nothing to show for it. So, we throw in the towel. Eighty percent of New Year’s resolutions “fail” by February. By the midpoint of the year most of our goals and dreams have been put aside to focus on friends, family, a new dog, or where you are going to eat tonight. Why? Who says that you have achieve anything before June? Why do we think that if we fail our goals that we can’t just pick up and start again?
I have a secret to tell (no not that one.) I do not make New Year’s Resolutions. I am constantly setting and making new goals to reach for and achieve throughout the year. When I post my list at the beginning of each year it is simply a continuation of what I have already been working on. If I finish a goal in April, I make another one. If I fail a goal in June I start again in July.
Let’s also consider this, a failed goal is only failed once we stop working on it. If we continue to press towards our goals, even if we miss our targets it is still progress! It is still good! Don’t stop! Don’t let someone tell you that just because you missed out on a word count or a weight target that you have failed. Keep going! You can do this!
Just because it is not New Year’s doesn’t mean that we can’t challenge and achieve our goals. We can! And we can start right now! Now is the perfect time to dust off the abandoned goals you may have set aside at the start of the year. Or even better, it’s a wonderful time to set new ones! You can achieve your dreams. But you have to start sometime. Why not now?