Every single year, we as a people, follow the same old tradition of setting “New Year’s Resolutions”, most of the time something cute or exciting that grabbed our attention at some point during the year. I don’t doubt that our intentions are great and I know that sometimes we feel like a change or something NEW will provide us with that epic opportunity or desired fulfillment. This year though, I have been thinking.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I don’t want to get all excited over something that I most likely won’t get around to because most likely it isn’t something I am interested in if it is a brand new thought or endeavor.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that great things don’t happen due to new ideas and innovative mindsets. However, when we look at our personal lives and really think about what gets done and what doesn’t, human nature proves that we tend to do more things that we want to do, than things we don’t want to do. This concept got me to thinking about why some New Year’s resolutions never get revisited after January. It dawned on me that by us trying so hard to think up NEW waves to ride and NEW habits to drop or adopt, we cloud our vision from focusing on the OLD things we were always passionate about.

What ever happened to the New Year’s resolutions you made last year? What about the ones you made the year before that? If you can think back just 12 months, I am sure you can think of something that excited you last year, that you may not have had the chance to focus on. These are the things we should be thinking about, that will add more meaning to our usual, yearly commitments.

I’ve noticed each year as well, that there are folks who vow firmly not to make a New Year resolution period, due to the concept that we should be striving for positive change daily. This is true, however, once again, as humans, we don’t always operate in an orderly, traditional fashion. Life happens. We get consumed with work, and school, and bills, and children, and health issues, and neighbors, and traffic, and various things that contribute to our daily routines and happenings. We do not always consciously get the chance to focus on what we want to focus on, therefore, I totally understand the momentum and optimism behind these yearly resolutions. It reminds us of that little extra bit of effort we still have to be better and do better. The first step to success is setting the goal you want to reach!

I just want to remind you of the things that meant so much to you in the past, that once made you excited to look at that year that was ahead of you. Do not lose those things. Think back, and see what still moves you and what you can work on NOW. You never know, just what kind of satisfaction it may bring you to simply work on something until it is FINISHED, no matter how many years it has to serve as your “NEW” year’s focus.T Work on it until it is done, because nine times out of ten, if you put it on your list of desired accomplishments, at the beginning of the year when you have the chance to start fresh, it must have meant more to you than a tradition. Dig it back up, and don’t let it rest until you’ve conquered it!