Are you sick and tired of making New Year’s resolutions you can’t keep? Here are seven we bet you can:
1. To gain weight-at least 15 pounds.2. To stop exercising
3. To read less.
4. To watch more TV.
5. To procrastinate more…starting tomorrow.
6. To get further into debt.
7. To spread out priorities beyond your ability to keep track of them.
On second thought, you may want to read the rest of this article before you make any more New Year’s resolutions…even easy ones!
A Prayer for the end of January
For the overwhelming majority of us who will make yet one more New Year’s resolution that starts on January 1st, I offer you the following prayer for the end of January:
Dear God,
I want to thank you for being close to me so far this year. With your help, I haven’t been impatient, lost my temper, been grumpy, judgmental or envious of anyone. But I will really need your help soon because I’m about to get out of bed.
Amen
Resolve Doesn’t Mean Results
We make resolutions on New Year’s Day to become better people. Our hearts are often in the right place, but somehow, our resolve doesn’t quite translate into results. Research on New Year’s resolutions indicates that:
Within the first two months of the new year, 25 % of us will break our promises.
By six months, nearly 40% will have failed.
By the end of the year, approximately 82 % will be unsuccessful.
Think about your own life. Haven’t you ever made a New Year’s resolution to diet…only to gain weight? Okay, I might be projecting my issues onto you with that example, but haven’t you ever done something similar? We all start out so well, but most of us don’t finish well. As the great poet/philosopher Homer Simpson once said: “I used to rock and roll all night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I’m lucky if I can find a half an hour a week in which to get funky.”
Resolve Not to Make Any New Year’s Resolutions!
While there is something in the human psyche that gravitates to new beginnings, if you really want to start this new year right, forget about making New Year’s resolutions. Don’t waste your breath huffing and puffing about how YOU are going to change yourself.
Instead, here are 5 things that can genuinely help you make a change:
- Read the Bible with Cadre friends this year. You can join the community here.
- Get ministry leadership coaching with us.
- Watch this short but super helpful 3-part video series from Box of Crayons about creating rock-solid habits.
- Use Bill Allison’s article on Growing your SMART Plan to help you create life-changing goals.
- Use a podcast like Encounter to help you slow down, be still, and listen to God.
I think it’s a big mistake to make any book beside the Bible the first and primary focal point of disciplemaking. (Yes, that goes for anything I’ve written as well.) Why? Because the way you give disciplemaking to someone is the way they will tend to give disciplemaking to others. So, instead of making a book the center of your disciplemaking, make THE Book the first and primary text of your Disciplemaking Learning Community…so that when those you disciple start to disciple others, they will do it using the Bible. (Call me old school if you want. I’ve been called worse.)