by Coach Jimmy Hays Nelson
Fill in the blank.
“I’ll start _______ AFTER the Holidays.”
Has a version of that sentence ever left your mouth?
What filled in your blank: Workout, Start a Business, Eat Better, Stop Smoking, Write a Book…
It’s understandable. We often see the holidays as a busy time. With all the festive cheer on our plate, there isn’t possibly a way we could fit in anything else. Right?
Eh……
I’m going to go out on a limb here. If you have used Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah or New Years as a reason not to get started on reaching your goals then I’m going to guess that something else ‘came up’ January 2nd when you SAID you were going to start. Am I right?
I was reminded lately by a good friend of mine that time, holidays, busy schedules, kids, illness, money might be easy to use an excuse for not getting started now. But really all those things all fall under the umbrella of one thing….
IT’S CALLED LIFE… and WE ALL HAVE ONE
The difference between you and the person who actually achieved their goals isn’t that they had it easier than you. They didn’t have a less busy schedule. They didn’t have more money. They didn’t have less unexpected emergencies than you. The difference is that they started! They started at an imperfect time. They started when it wasn’t ideal. They started when schedules were busy. They started when it didn’t make financial sense to.
Regardless of what time of year it is there will always be life (excuses) that make it easy for you not to start now.
Yesterday we lost one of a huge influence on my life in the area of setting and reaching goals. This is one of my favorite videos from legendary speaker Mr. Zig Ziglar on getting ‘Cooked in the Squat’. Have you used any of these excuses before?
You are worth achieving your goals! The world needs you to fulfill the greatness that is in you right now. The greater the purpose that is in you, the greater the resistance that will rise up to keep you from getting started. The holidays may seem like an innocent, honest, valid reason to put off getting started. But What if….. What if you started NOW. What if you started in some small way in the midst of the holiday shuffle. What if you started when you didn’t have the money to get started. What if you started knowing that its not the best time, and your initial results won’t be perfect. What kind of momentum could you create for the next 5 weeks? How much further along would you be January 1st than those that are waiting to start after the holidays?
All I know is every successful person I have ever met got started when it made absolutely no sense to get started. Many had the deck stacked against them. Yet they decided to start anyway, and by doing so they were able to improve their lives, impact those they cared about, and ultimately change the world.
You are worth getting started now! So what’s stopping you?
Leave me a comment below and let’s take the first step in getting through this together.
In this thing together- Coach Jimmy