Cocktails with Carl
What’s disrupting or ruining your goals for 2022?
You might be asking yourself, “Wait, what’s the deal here? Didn’t 2022 just start and wasn’t last month's blog post all about setting goals? How can we be talking about getting off track so soon?”
The answer is simple. Around 80% of new years goals are abandoned by February. In fact, a 2019 study by the fitness app Strava analyzed over 98 million uploaded exercise activities and concluded that the day of January 19th should now be defined as “quitters day”. We’ve now got it nailed down to a specific day. How depressing!
So, what’s challenging you in relation to your goals already? Below is a list of specific things to look out for that may derail your grand plans.
Lack of Focus
Distractions can come in many different forms. Social media accounts are urging us to check our status, friends are dropping impromptu invitations for a run to the coffee shop and co-workers are tapping us on the shoulder for an “emergency” meeting. These are all temptations that have the potential to take us down a rabbit hole and separate us from our goals.
In November of 2020, I wrote about learning to say “no”. Saying yes is easy. There is always the pressure to do more. Resist the urge. Being able to graciously say no will keep you focused on your priorities.
Lack of Discipline
This is a bit different than lacking focus. I can get into a morning workout routine and then lose focus. I can pick up a book to read and lose focus. Lacking discipline is not even getting to the morning workout or picking up the book. Do you see the difference?
I equate a lack of discipline to laziness. We’ve simply decided not to make an attempt any longer. When we realize that discipline is not a skill, but rather just motivational intent and execution, we can manage our way to better results. For example, simplifying your schedule and eliminating unnecessary events can help tremendously. You’ll have more energy to tackle fewer things, then execution and results will improve.
Failure
It’s humiliating to fail and that humiliation can be enough to get you to quit. Don’t give in. We have all sorts of examples of people overcoming failure and going on to achieve high levels of success. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, Steve Jobs was originally fired from Apple and Walt Disney was told he wasn’t creative enough. Failure can be a great teacher. Embrace it and persevere!
Discomfort
Pain can inflict us both mentally and physically when we are striving to achieve at the highest level. Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug is a great example, suffering through the pain of an ankle injury to land one last vault and secure gold for the US team in 1996.
Where and when is your discomfort going to surface? Will it be at the tail end of a marathon that you’ve vowed to finish? Will it be as you push to finish that book you’ve always wanted to write? Fighting through agony is oftentimes required in order to grow.
Nobody said that achieving your goals was gonna be easy. I hope I have given you some warning signs to pay attention to as you continue your journey. And if they do rear their ugly head, I expect that you’ll have the foresight to identify them and overcome them.
So when February arrives this week, are you going to be part of the 80% or 20%?
Good Luck!
Cocktail Recipe: The Godfather
In honor of Marlon Brando and the movie The Godfather.
1 ½ oz of blended scotch whiskey (Ex.-Dewars or Johnny Walker)
½ oz amaretto
Lemon peel garnish
Pour the scotch and amaretto into a mixing glass with ice and stir together. Strain into a lowball glass and fill it with ice. Garnish with lemon peel.