Resolution Revolution

“For the most part, you’re 100% right!”

I almost laughed out loud when I heard this statement. It was issued by a business person at a recent meeting I attended. How in the world can something simultaneously be “for the most part” and “100%”?! It might not strike you as particularly humorous, but the contradiction in that statement really grabbed my attention, and provided some much-needed levity.

Chances are we’ve all seen (and possibly even used) examples of oxymorons (contradictory phrases), such as “jumbo shrimp”, “working vacation”, and “silent alarm”. Sometimes they are used purposefully, simply for their comedic effect.

…and then there are those times when we don’t use them INTENTIONALLY for comedic effect, and the laughs are even bigger!

Sadly, one of the biggest contradictions many of us perpetrate on ourselves is the notion of the “New Year’s Resolution”. Can we be honest? Many times, RESOLVE is the last thing we intend. Our ‘resolutions’ may be well intentioned, such as the desire to lose weight, find a new job, or improve a relationship, but many times we get distracted by the ‘daily grind’ and lose our focus on them. All too easily, we let them go.

My encouragement is that you start a “Resolution Revolution”. When you set those resolutions, be determined to do whatever it takes to maintain your focus on them until they have been achieved. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about.

My brother-in-law’s family owned a Boston terrier named Missy. This dog’s favorite chew toy was a rubber foot. Many times, Missy would bring me the foot (minus the big toe, a casualty of Missy’s enthusiasm), drop it on the ground, and just look at me. To this day, I swear I could hear that dog saying “Go ahead… …pick it up… …I dare you!”

As you can guess, Missy never ever lost a tug-of-war over that rubber foot. You could even lift her off the ground by pulling straight up on the rubber foot. Regardless of what you might try, Missy simply refused to let go. She knew what she wanted (to win), and she flat-out refused to be denied success.

BE LIKE MISSY!!! First, ask yourself, “To what do I aspire? What goal or dream do I want to accomplish?” Secondly, decide today to set that in your mind, and let no obstacle, no trial, and no difficulty keep you from completely meeting that goal.

Let me leave you with this thought from Theodore Roosevelt:

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Make it an AWESOME today, and a BETTER tomorrow,

Originally published in KeyNotes Volume #1 on 9 January 2002.