A new year means new goals yes?
Why do we love New Year’s? I mean it seems silly enough to ask but consider for a minute, why do you love New Year’s?
Can I tell you why?
It’s because of the hope that it brings!
It’s the hope for what’s to come.
It’s the shining light in a dark season.
It’s like the dawning of the sun.
It’s like turning the chapter into the next.
It’s the enthusiasm of unchartered territory and potential.
It’s our moment of hope!!
Which is great. We all need and want hope… But, what if I told that you that 80% of people who set a new goal for the New Year quit by mid – February?
Well, that’s depressing.
So much for our “hope,” eh?
UNLESS there is a better way.
There HAS to be a better way.
You’re in luck, there is a better way and here it is:
DON’T SET ANOTHER GOAL.
Just don’t do it.
Why?
Because, there is a difference between SETTING A GOAL and HAVING A DREAM.
Now, being that our 80% statistic is rather staggering and largely accurate for most of us, if not all of us, let’s first look at all the times that we’ve set a goal and missed it, quit, and/or failed in our attempt.
I really want you to consider this.
…And I’m not talking about the silly, little things you didn’t do (though those do add up to become big things), but for a second, I want you to consider all the things that you really wanted to do and didn’t… the things that mattered to you but you quit… the things that felt alive and real to you, that would make a big different in your life and in the lives of other people but you just stopped…. Yea, those goals.
Why? Why do you stop?
What caused you to quit?
Maybe your answer sounds like:
- I am afraid of what other people will think…
- I find a way to stay busy so I don’t have to do the hard things…
- I have wrong priorities…
- I’m frankly not ready to commit to what it’s going to require…
- I tell myself, “there’s not enough hours in the day”…
- I just don’t follow my own rules…
- I guess it’s all my conscious and unconscious habits…
- I have NO REAL REASON to do it…
These are priceless reasons. Warranted. Even legit reasons as to why you quite. And they are all likely factors in why you’re not making shit happen. It tells us why you’re not getting what you want most out of life… cuz you’re actually quitting. You’re stopping.
Here’s my two cents:
It’s time to not set another goal and instead, have a dream for the New Year!
And I share even more thoughts on that in my weekly video series, “A Lesson in NOT Setting One More Goal” WATCH HERE and let’s do this 2021!
Lets go back and look at why we love New Year’s in the first place…
It’s because of the hope that it brings!
It’s the hope for what’s to come.
It’s like the dawning of the sun.
It’s like turning the chapter into the next.
It’s the enthusiasm of unchartered territory and potential.
It’s our chance to make a new way, try a new thing, forge a new path, bring to this life something we haven’t yet brought…
It’s our moment of hope!!
Most know the word hope as meaning “an optimistic attitude” and yes, that would be accurate, but we’re missing a key ingredient. Hope by definition is “an optimistic attitude based on your faith.”
Faith by definition means “the confidence, trust, conviction not based on any proof.”
Bottom line, we love the idea of a New Year’s Resolution because of the hope it brings but my question to you is this: are you ready to do what it requires you to do? Are you ready to just be hopeful or are you ready to do the work?
Because hope is not based on something that we see. It’s based in faith!! It’s built on faith in action.
This is why we burn out. This is why we give up. THIS IS WHY, right here, THIS my friends is why we stop. Because it requires us to do something… and likely it’s doing something we’ve never done before or something that is vulnerable… or something that causes us to change and lets face it, change is hard.
AND, AND. AND, it’s exactly what is going to give us purpose. It’s exactly where the magic is!! Because it is OUR job to bring to this world that hope that we see, not because everyone else can but because we can. The Bible says, “For creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19 KJV). It says, that we “will see visions” and we “will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).
This is the difference between setting a goal vs having a dream.
Setting a goal is just adding one more thing on your to do list.
It’s something that sounds nice, appears nice, even looks nice, but it’s likely not motivating enough to do beyond the 6 week hump.
But a dream, having a real dream, is going to require you to birth something…
It is going to take you to a place you’ve never been…
It’s going to bring something to this world that’s never been brought.
It’s THE THING that you’ve wanted to do more than anything and yet, you’ve just kept putting it off and putting it off with competing commitments and all the things. UNTIL TODAY.
It’s also the thing that when you set out to do it, come mid – February, when everyone else is quitting, and when you don’t see it happening around you, you’re going to stick with it! Why? Because you know that it’s the thing that you’re called to do and ultimately, you can’t not do it.
When you have a dream, you are so tuned in to a different dimension and so incredibly committed to “the thing” you are moving towards that you are no longer dependent on the circumstances around you.
Which makes all of this so intriguing to me and I know I am quite the word smith and get geeky when I see words like this but I feel like it is EXTREMELY telling for us and is THE ANSWER for those of us who will KEEP out New Year’s resolutions vs. those who won’t soooooo listen up!!
A goal is just something you want to do. Great. Have those. Do those.
But a dream for the New Year, having a dream for the New Year is going to be something so much deeper, richer, more profound, within you that you can’t not bring to this world!
It’s the thing that you know you were born to do…
It’s the thing that you’ve been putting off for years and years…
It’s the thing that never seems to get enough of your time…
It’s the thing that’s going to require you to be braver and bolder than you feel you can be…
It’s the thing that’s going to make you better…
Do that this year!
Run towards a dream… don’t just set one more goal!
And as always, if you wanna join a community of dreamers who are actively living their lives in 2021 in light of their dreams, boldly chasing THE THING on the inside of them, join our closed Facebook group Dream: Together. Epic conversations, cool connections, and just a great place to be!
