What are you capable of?

Did you ever wonder where your upper limit of achievement lies?

Happy 2023!

I know this is a time of year when lots of people make resolutions, or promises to themselves that “this year” they will achieve some important objective.

This is why gyms are extra busy, and why organizational products sell out at Home Depot.

I don’t usually get caught up in making resolutions. For me, I see every day as a chance to change things going forward.

However, I do recognize something about the calendar year changing as a neat time to reflect on how this new year could be different.

I want to encourage you to put a different spin on your new year resolution.

If you are similar to 85% of the American population, you will have ceased moving towards your resolution by February 10, or thereabouts.

I think lots of reasons underly this phenomenon, not the least of which is that we culturally call them “new year resolutions.” So when a “new year” morphs into the “current year” or the “old year,” there is no resolution.

Our resolutions are for when the year seems “new.” When the new year starts to feel like the year that just ended (and I guess that point is sometime after the end of January or so), we revert back to our baseline.

I want to challenge you to a different mindset this January. Rather than set yourself up to not achieve something valuable, set yourself up for SUCCESS.

I want you to find out what you are truly capable of achieving in a relatively short period of time. Don’t worry about “what I am going to do this year.”

Instead, consider what you can do in ONE MONTH.

Or, consider what you can do in even 25 days!

Pick ONE BEHAVIOR or ONE TASK that you do not currently do, but you will commit to yourself to do for 25 days. Or you can choose 30 days if you want! Just remember that it’s already January 2 :).

Pick a behavior that you know will reliably move the needle in some important way if you do it consistently for several weeks.

Aim to start this one behavior by January 5. That gives you a few days to really think meaningfully about what you want to commit to, and what area of your life you want to target.

Make it something that does stretch you a bit, but something that you also know you are fully capable of doing.

For instance, maybe it’s eliminating sugar. You know you can do this for one day, or even a few days. But doing it for 25 days will be tough - doable because you CAN do it, but tough because maintaining it consistently will challenge you.

If you have a business to run - maybe commit to setting up lunch or coffee meetings every single day with other business owners. The goal might be to have either an in person or virtual/phone meeting Monday through Friday through the end of January.

Imagine what that might do for your business or career.

The idea is to see how much you can achieve in a relatively short period of time, targeting a specific task in a consistent way.

Then on February 1, you can evaluate what you are truly capable of doing!

And because it’s only for less than a month, you will set yourself up for SUCCESS since it’s not like you are trying to do something for the next 365 days.

What I hope you show yourself is that you CAN make the changes you want, you do not have to give up on your goals because it feels too big to think about doing something new for the rest of your life.

Aim for 30 (or more….or fewer) days at a time. This is far more powerful because it gives you time to adjust, as well as build your self confidence.

If this idea seems intriguing, I’d love for you to share your objectives in the comments section! No pressure, of course, but it might be fun to keep track of each of our goals.

You can always contact me if you want support in achieving your most important goals, by the way. You can reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.

Let’s see what you can do in January, shall we?

Be still, and know that He is God….