New Year Resolutions: A Shift in Perspective
A little over two years ago, I set a New Year’s resolution to lose a few pounds and get healthier. I started running on the treadmill with the idea that I’d get fit in a few months. Instead, I got lazier the more I thought about how far off I was from my goal. If anything, my goal drove me further away from it.
I tried again a year later. I crash dieted, worked out every day, and shed 20 pounds in a month. I was highly pleased with my result, crossed that goal off my list, and, shortly after, gained back the weight I had just lost.
This past year, I tried something different. I set my New Year’s fitness goal to “focus on the moment”, rather than striving for an end point. I go to the gym early in the morning every day and focus on how many miles I run on the treadmill, how much weight I can squat, and how many burpees I can do. This gave me a greater sense of progress, in terms of how satisfied I am after I work out, and how happy I am with my health and image. Now, I’ve lost 50 pounds in nine months.
The only thing I did differently was shift my perspective to what I’m doing in the present moment, instead of thinking about where I will be afterward. Rather than looking for Result, I started striving for Progress. I believe this shift can be applied in many, if not all, aspects of our lives.
Moving from a Result to Progress Mindset
We all have that one thing (or many things) we really want to achieve, whether it’s success in our career, building a better relationship with our family, becoming healthier, or developing a personal bond with God. We usually set these achievements as our main goal, and see them as an end point along a trail of obstacles and challenges. Getting there is our perception of success. But does it really end there? Should it?
Once we’ve achieved our goal, then the question becomes “What next?” If we focus instead on developing our methods on the daily, then the “end point” we’re so obsessed about--the one-time result that we hope for--can transcend to a constant progress and be replaced by continuity and improvement. Our lofty goals won’t seem so far-off anymore; they’ll become part of our daily lives.
The Power of Continuous Growth
DP Life applies this simple insight of continuous growth in our lives as God’s children. The Bible and the Divine Principle explain that God blessed Adam and Eve with Three Great Blessings: to be fruitful, multiply, and have stewardship over God’s creation.
The first blessing, to be fruitful, means to mature or to grow in character, spirit and heart. This can be achieved by conditioning our hearts and mind in tune with God’s principles. From a personal standpoint, we can be fruitful by becoming a better, more wholesome and grounded person--a person of integrity.
I believe that everyone wants to grow and be a better person. It’s almost a built-in, subconscious goal for each of us. But once we fully realize we have this goal in our hearts, how do we go about it? What do we need to invest to attain it? And can we really succeed?
Trying to become a better person is just like working out in the gym or building a career. There are obstacles and challenges, be it our personal flaws, temperaments, a rough day at work, a difficult person we have to deal with, and myriad other factors that nullify our willpower to rise up and become better.
Perhaps this is when we need to shift our perspective. Rather than looking at the finish line and what stands in our way, we can focus on what we can do in the moment, and take on the next challenge right in front of us, one step at a time.
We can make it a habit to ask ourselves each day: “How can I be a better person today, and what can I do to improve myself for tomorrow?” Then, our goal isn’t just an end result, it becomes a lifestyle.
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning” - Benjamin Franklin