How do I respond?
Today is the day when most people's New Year's Resolutions kick in. Enjoy the holiday on the first. Start on the second.
And inevitably, there will be people who break their resolutions today or tomorrow or next week or next month. Whenever. Doesn't matter. It happens.
Some people say that resolutions are bullshit, and instead create goals for the year or a vision board or roadmap. Some people want to cultivate lifestyle changes. Call it what you want. For this conversation, let's just say that there's something that wants to be accomplished.
I know this goes against positive psychology and doesn't look pretty in fancy type on instagram, but it has served me well in the past:
Fail in advance.
Allow yourself to fail, even if it's only in your mind, so you can take a look at how you respond. That's where the juicy stuff is.
If and when you don't stick to your resolution every single day for 365 days, what do you do the next day? Do you give up? Oh well, nice try, maybe next year lol. Or do you get right back on the wagon? Or do you double down the next day to make up for it?
This comes from one of my favorite leadership lessons.
A leader has already thought about all possible outcomes in advance so that they aren't taken by surprise and can act accordingly. The best leaders are the ones who always seem in control no matter what chaos my arise, and a cheat code for this is to experience all of the feelings and emotions around each possible situation in advance. It's not easy or for the faint-hearted, but is a gamechanger.
There's also another nice bonus to failing in advance.
It gives you permission to not have to be perfect.
The need to be perfect adds a whole lot of pressure. Yes, some people actively seek that pressure and perform better that way, so if that's you, proceed as you were. For the rest of us, we've got enough other things happening in life that adding this desire to be perfect just complicates things further.
So what if you caved and ate a chocolate bar one night or you missed a day of meditation? Life doesn't end there. Know in advance what you'll do after this happens and you can respond accordingly.