New Year, New You!!!

    Happy New Year Soulsters! There is no day like TODAY to utilize as an opportunity to work on YOU. Each year many of us start with New Year’s Resolutions. Some are to lose weight (probably most common), while others may focus on being more social, growing in relationships, or building businesses. Whatever your “New Year, New You” focus is, remember it will take CONSISTENCY in order for you to grow in your CONVICTION. What does this mean? It means there may be some bad days mixed in with the GOOD days, but you have today to make it happen! How amazing is that!? Here are a few ideas to help you get your year started right…

1. Write it down! It’s proven you are more likely to actually BUILD on your resolution if you reference it. Ever heard the saying “plan your work and work your plan”? Plan your work by actually WRITING IT DOWN! One of the main reasons people fail to complete a goal is because the goal is not written down. Believe it in your mind, build conviction in your heart, and put it on paper to help hold yourself accountable!

2. Reference what you write down. This may be in the form of a picture for those wanting to lose weight (picture of the end goal and/or where you currently are by the fridge or in the bathroom), a note about your finances (dream big people!), or writing in a JOURNAL. For my spiritual walk this year, I am working on putting more of my quiet times with God in a journal. Case in point, my wife just started back up writing in her journal. She hasn’t written in her journal since 2008, but one of her posts that year was very telling. In one of her last posts for 2008, she wrote down “I think I may have just met my husband”. As you may have already guessed, she had met her future husband! Reading that entry was very encouraging for BOTH of us this year, and hopefully she’ll lean on that on days I upset her (insert LOL right there folks:).

3. Share your goal, vision, or resolution with people. This will help keep you accountable. In terms of say a business, this may not be as easy, because you obviously can’t tell any and every one your ideas, but find someone (or people) whom you can confide in, and preferably, will keep you accountable. I was recently having dinner with some of the brothers from my church when our lead Evangelist asked us what our New Year’s Resolutions were. Believe it or not, I wanted to keep quiet, and I know this is because I did not want to have another person keeping me ACCOUNTABLE. Don’t listen to THAT inner voice! When it was my turn to share, I was open. I looked him in the eye and said my goal is to lose 50 lbs (the total goal is really to lose close to 70 lbs, but the wife thinks that would be a bit much! Remember, happy wife, happy life!). The beautiful thing is some of the other brothers had similar goals regarding health, and we are now on a mission to get fit and eat better together. This may not have happened if we hadn’t shared with one another!

4. Pray over your decision(s). One thing I have learned is to pray over decision(s). The beauty in prayer is understanding God hears all and sees all, so He really has given us an outlet to take the pressure off ourselves. If you have strength in HIM, then you can conquer ANYTHING. You can truly MOVE MOUNTAINS!!! How amazing is that!? By sharing our goal and/or vision with other people, guess what? They can pray for us as well! We are increasing our blessings just by sharing our goals/plans/resolutions for 2014!

5. WORK YOUR PLAN! This is going to more than likely be the HARDEST part of our transformation for the New Year! We now live in a world where technology is at the edge of our fingertips. At no time in history has there been more connectivity than where we are in 2014. The internet has connected us like never before, more people have phones (and especially SMART PHONES) than ever before, and an idea is just a click away. Because of this “have now” mentality, we have to be careful to understand what we want is not always going to happen right away. We live in a “not now, but RIGHT NOW” society, but success is truly a JOURNEY. There are some people who are going to be blessed immediately with their finances, hopes, or dreams. For the MAJORITY of us, it will take TIME. It does not mean it has to take the ENTIRE year to make our Resolution happen, but it just might . Remember the saying “Rome wasn’t built over night”? God didn’t create the Earth and Heavens overnight either. He took his TIME. What’s awesome is we get to enjoy the JOURNEY! For you, it may not be an overnight sensation, but that is okay. Just remember to WORK IT!

Being a Christian, I want to end this post with a scripture from the Bible that discussing the mentality needed to achieve your New Year’s Resolution. In Matthew 28: 19-20, Jesus told his disciples:

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The command was to go and make disciples of ALL nations and baptize them, but the true WORK starts with vs. 20….TEACHING THEM TO OBEY. That is the WORK. The work for us as we head into the New Year is to build a CONVICTION on making our Resolutions reality! It’s going to take WORK. In other words, it’s easy to talk the talk, but are we going to walk the walk?

I pray whatever your New Year’s Resolution is, you are willing to put in the WORK to make it happen. It might hurt, it might wear on you, but in the end, it will be worth the sacrifice.

Below, I have listed my Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for 2014. Feel free to use for your own ideas or thoughts as well.

1. Continue maturing in my relationship with God, making Christ Lord over ALL
2. Be more empathetic towards my wife in all things
3. Lose 50 1lbs
4. Write a blog post a week on SOS! (minimum)
5. Buy a Home

Cheer’s to you on your New Year, New You goals!!!