A Chance to Start Over

I remember one February I drove past the Plano, Texas, Recreation Center where I used to exercise.  I drove past it because there were no parking spaces.  The next day I found a parking spot but people were lined up from three to six deep behind every machine in the weight room, making a good work-out impossible.  I asked the young man at the desk what was happening.  He responded that in about three weeks things would be back to normal because, “These are our ‘New Year’s Resolution’ people.”

Most New Year’s resolutions quickly evaporate.  However, the New Year’s – or any – resolution is the most important step in goal-setting because it is the first step – and if we don’t take the first step, there’ll never be the second and subsequent steps.  When you repeat that resolution enough times to yourself and to friends, family and others, an interesting thing happens.  Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action and the architect of accomplishment.  Repeat your resolution enough times and one day you will verbally stomp your foot and say, “I’m going to do it!”  Your resolution has become a decision.

Once you’ve made a decision, realize that you must develop a plan of action.  Everybody understands that if you’re going to build a home, improve your marriage, get a better education, etc., you’ve got to have a plan.  With a logical plan of action, your confidence goes up and you make a commitment.  No responsible individual makes a commitment unless he or she has reason to believe they can fulfill that commitment, whether the commitment is to maintain the marriage, lose weight, get an education, or whatever.

With a commitment, when difficulties arise your first thought is, “How do I solve this problem?”  Without the commitment, your first thought is to bail out, and we generally find exactly what we are looking for.  Make those resolutions today, then expand those New Year’s Resolution to a “New Life’s Resolution” and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Zig Ziglar is known as America’s motivator.   He is the author of 29 books and numerous audio and video recordings.  See him in action!