The 11th Day

Okay, we are 11 days into the New Year. There are only 355 days left. How's it going? Is 2008 everything you thought it would be and more? Have you shed those holiday pounds, read a book a week, and hand written all of your thank you notes from Christmas? I am continually amazed at the way that we approach each new year, or even each new season, as though it is a new version of us. It can be. But, in order for that to happen, we actually have to make changes to our mindset and our environment to position ourselves for success. Otherwise, we end up 11 days into a good idea wondering if now is the right time to really "kick it into gear." Something that I did last weekend was made a note to myself of all of the things that I need to put a little more effort into, and amazingly enough, there was a common denominator to them all. If I wanted to read more, workout better, eat right, and be more productive with my day. Not a completely original list, or a complete one at that, but at a high level, it was a place to start. A simple look back over the past couple weeks told me that all of that could be solved by getting to bed at a better time and diligently waking up a little bit earlier. After the age of 22 you are not allowed to be a night person any more. The working world starts when it starts and no ones cares that you are a "night person." That is what coffee is for. Coffee is like training wheels for "night owls" trying to convert to become morning people and a productive member of society before noon. So this morning when I rolled out of bed for the 5th morning in a row before 7am and got my day started, I decided that now that I'd conquered a week, I'll go for two. And that is how you keep a new week resolution. So don't worry about 2008 and all that you are going to do by the end of it. If you can break it down into bite size pieces and give yourself an environment of success, you'll be able to make it happen. If you can string together some successful days, you can have a successful week. Get a few of those in the bag and you'll have a successful month. Put three months of successful weeks together and your on your way to a great quarter, and then the great year that you were hoping to have in the first place.

Remember: The main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing.