Do you know what happens around the third week of January?
It’s so common they’ve named a day after it.
So many people will drop their resolutions just 3 weeks into the new year, there’s a day known as “Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day”.
If your resolution isn’t going well as January rolls on, don’t beat yourself up. Change can be hard. It’s not all going to happen at once or as fast as you want. But the good news is, each day you have an opportunity to start over. Today can be about giving something up, or creating a fresh start.
You can make today Clean Slate Day.
Forget your mistakes and move on to a better future. As you go forward with a clean slate, try to focus on what’s most important to you. Here are three things that might help:
1. Psychologist Russ Harris suggests a simple exercise for being more conscious of what is really important to us (as described in “The Antidote: Happiness for those Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking”). Imagine you are eighty years old and then complete the sentences:
“I wish I’d spent more time on. . . ” and “I wish I’d spent less time on. . .”
Whatever your age, this wonderfully simple exercise will improve your chances of staying focused on what is most important in your life.
2. Are you listening to yourself or everyone else? Stop listening to all the chatter and start listening to yourself. There is no shortage of experts ready to impart their wisdom on you. Knowledge is great. However, as you learn new information, ask yourself, is this right for me? After all, who is more of an expert on you than you? (Of course, if you’re doctor is giving you medical advise, listen to them.) Just remember, it’s good to listen to yourself. Some people use meditation for this purpose. If that’s not your style, take 5 minutes a day to just be alone with your thoughts.
3. Do you feel like you have low self-control? Good. Studies show people that feel they have a lot of self control actually have the least. It’s good to question yourself. Just don’t be too hard on yourself!
