Every new year, we set goals for the following months, discussing them with friends. Some aim to lose weight, others to exercise more, or to dedicate more time to their loved ones, and so on. Usually, after a few days, these goals are abandoned because one feels overwhelmed by the demands of daily life. This leads to the classic explanation of ‘I would like to, but I can’t.’ It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s life that prevents me.
Therefore, I suggest to all of us to avoid playing with change if we know that we will easily abandon these good intentions. In this sense, thinking positively and believing that we will succeed in meeting our goals is misleading. Positive thinking is wishful if it’s not accompanied by the awareness that achieving what we set out to do will be difficult and if we’re not willing to make sacrifices.
It means committing ourselves regardless of the results. We must be willing to commit knowing that we might fail. We must understand that changing habits takes time and is difficult because we have to start thinking and acting differently from usual at the very moment we are inclined to behave in our habitual way.
If we want to succeed, let’s start with short-term goals, investing limited but daily time. Let’s think in terms of, ‘What do I want to do for myself today that is different from what I usually do?’ If we answer affirmatively to this question, we are moving in the right direction. Even just a minute spent differently will give us a positive signal. Without rushing, let’s learn to gather these moments.
