Every year we hear and read the same thing: talk of the New Year’s resolutions that people are planning to make. And just a few short weeks or months after these have been set, most of them are not kept.
There is a reason I am not setting any New Year’s resolutions and the reason is simple: I want my life to be based on day-in-day-out consistency. I don’t want to be starting and stopping things, having no discipline, and doing life in fits and spurts.
One of the secrets to success is consistency. Not cramming, binging or living in crisis mode, but simply turning up each and every day, and consistently walking through life. Looking for that quick fix to undo years of bad habits won’t work either.
If you want your 2017, your 2018, your 2019 and so on to be better than your 2016, then rather than setting New Year’s resolutions, sit down and work out a daily plan for your life. One of the best ways of doing this is simply to set a routine for your day so that you don’t get to the end of your week, month, year – or life! – with so much you didn’t achieve.
In my life, with so much work on my plate, plus a family of three children – the fourth due in June – I cannot manage my workload and schedule without a daily plan. The work that needs to be done gets achieved, but it’s the additional things like reading the Bible, praying, exercise and space to reflect and hear from God that I need to plan. And ultimately, these are the keys to success. And if I make this space for God, then I find my life is in order and I’m not ever in a really desperate position.
Sitting at my desk does not cause breakthrough for me. That is where I chunk out the work that is before me. Every great idea has come from reading, praying or just quietly spending time with God. I also like to take a journal to a café and just sit and write ideas. But if I don’t make that space, then I’m ticking all the boxes for much of life, but I’m missing out on connecting with my Creator.
So this year, ditch the New Year’s resolutions and instead resolve to be consistent. It’s the tortoise versus the hare. Simply turning up each day and having discipline in your life will, over time, really make a big difference.
Matt Danswan is the CEO of Initiate Media, publishers of Christian Woman
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