Do it Anyway- How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” –Cavett Robert

Emotions are powerful. They can infuse passion, purpose, and power into our daily activities or they can be the precursor to a sense of futility and failure, causing us to give up. As you strive to keep your New Year’s resolutions, you may experience an emotional roller coaster. The ride may not always be pleasant- here are some thoughts on staying on track whether you feel like it or not.

“Do it anyway” –My Dad

How I hated those words! They usually came after telling my father I didn’t want to do something like clean my room, eat my vegetables, mow the lawn, do the dishes, chop some wood and other such tasks. I would say something like “I hate broccoli” or “I don’t want to clean my room” or “I don’t feel like mowing the lawn” or “I’m tired.” His response- “Do it anyway.” How many times have you not done something you knew you should do simply because you didn’t feel like it? Do it anyway.

“I can’t fight this feeling any longer.” –REO Speedwagon

Feelings can be misleading. Do you know the hardest part about exercise for most people? It’s not the physical act of working out, it’s getting to the gym. For most people, once they get to the gym it is significantly easier to work out. The pre-workout feelings often instill a sense that the task will be far more unpleasant, difficult, or tedious than it actually is. I don’t always feel like going to the gym, but I tend to feel good after a workout when I leave. You may not always feel like sticking with your New Year’s resolutions. You may not always feel like you are making progress. You may at times have to take your feelings out of it. You may at times feel irritable, frustrated, agitated, exasperated, confused and befuddled. Do it anyway. Honoring your word feels good and knowing you are making progress despite your “feelings” feels good. Hitting one of your major goals feels FANTASTIC.

Here are some of the “feelings” you may experience:
• It doesn’t feel like I am making progress. This stops many people. If you don’t feel like you are making progress, why bother? The next logical outcome is to quit. Remember, you will not always feel like you are making progress. Do it anyway.
• It feels like today might be a good day to take the day off. “I’ve been working so hard, I think I’ve done enough today, this week, this month…” Do it anyway.
• I feel too tired to (exercise, write, make phone calls…). Thanks for sharing- do it anyway.
• Yesterday was such a (great, horrid, tedious, extraordinary, awful, fill in the blank) day that I deserve a day off. Yes Princess, of course you do. Do it anyway.

I now hear and listen to those words “Do it anyway” when I don’t feel like doing something like:
• Writing
• Exercising
• Making prospecting calls
• Studying
• Paperwork
• Cleaning (well- this one I pay someone to do)

It never ceases to amaze me how many extraordinary things happen when I act in the face of “not feeling like it”. Some of my best days on the phones have been when I am calling purely because I said I would. Inevitably I will reach people I had never reached before on those days I really did not want to call. Some of my best writing and a couple of personal bests in the gym came on days I did not feel like it. But I did it anyway.

Success tends to take disciplined, consistent action over long periods of time. Commitment has very little to do with feeling. Commitment means you do it anyway- whether you feel like it or not; whether it is easy or not; whether it is pleasant or not; whether you are tired or not; whether it is convenient or not. When you consistently do what you say you are going to do you develop confidence, inner strength, momentum, and ultimately character.

Happy New Year- may this be your best year yet!