A Meaningful Life

03 Jan, 2008

Secret Commitments Trump Resolutions

Posted by: Marc In: Habits| Life


My new years resolution is very low key. It is to add a little more rigour and discipline to life.

People tend to go for big ticket resolutions but it takes a revolutionary change in your life to have them happen. We all know they don’t, humans just fail badly honouring their New Years resolution promises and commitments.

Here’s a few reasons why my resolution is low key:

  • Low key resolutions are far more likely to happen. Small regular wins are better than big fat zero’s.
  • 98% of your actions are habit which simply wont change on a shallow statement of resolution.
  • It is inauthentic to promise yourself something that you know you wont do.
  • You simply can’t stop and change your life based on a date. A “date” has no real power, it’s a word.
  • What humans commit to do and what we really commit to do are very different things.

The last one is the crux of the matter. As an example many people commit to less chocolate or coffee. The reality is that we are very committed to satiating feelings. The pleasure of quelling that feeling is what we are really committed to.

What you secretly commit to in your life trumps your resolutions every time.

Resolutions that work are revolutions. Revolutions require shock or structure to make them happen.Roughly 40%-50% of people have a new years resolution to get their finances in order. The next biggest is weight and fitness at 20%-30%. To have any of these happen means massive life upheaval so the vast majority of us will no doubt fail because the is no significant difference in our daily lives to have the change happen. There is no shock factor present or there is no structure in place to have it occur.

Pick something small. Get a win on the board. Then step it up by preparing the structure, systems and resources you will need for your larger personal revolution to occur.

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  • Farhan Rehman: Interesting... It's often been said that the clutter in ones physical space, be it work, or home, is a reflection of the cluttered thoughts in ones m
  • Marc: Thanks Leah, definitely a bottom 10 in Spelling Weekly magazine!
  • Leah Maclean: Congratulations Marc!!! You Grant and, as you so elloquently put it, your team desearve this accolade. Saasu not only has a great product but you als

About

I'm a dad with 3 kids and an amazing wife. Founded Saasu.com where I also blog about business and online accounting. Prior to that I was Director of Principal Finance Trading at Deutsche Bank Sydney. Follow me at Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr

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