Happy Ditch Your Resolutions Day
This blog was originally shared as an email to my beloved newsletter subscribers on January 17, 2024.
“I’m going to eat healthier this year”
“I’m going to learn Italian this year”
“I’m going to save more money this year”
Any of these sound familiar to you?
They’re a few of the most common New Year’s resolutions that everyone makes on January 1st.
But the key word there is makes.
The easy part is making goals for yourself, the hard part is actually sticking with them.
It turns outs that today, January 17, is the most common day for people to break their resolutions.
Making today an unofficial holiday — Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions Day.
But you’re not going to be one of those people.
This year you are NOT abandoning the commitment you made to better yourself.
“But how Mike?”
Because you have me!
& I create artwork that helps you, inspires you, and reminds you with a beautiful message, that you can flourish in whichever season you’re in right now.
I’d like to introduce the second piece of the Seasons collection, Autumn.
Marigolds are one of the few flowers that bloom in autumn, and they’re actually the birth flower of October.
As the trees lose their leaves during this season, the marigolds are in full bloom.
I’ve had my fair share of goals that I set out but never accomplished.
Plenty of good habits like working out that I wanted to establish.
Plenty of bad ones like waking up too late which I wanted to break.
I’d always stick with going to the gym for a few weeks fueled by sheer momentum
But as soon as something halted that momentum, like staying late at the office a few nights in a row, it stopped everything I had just been working so hard for.
When I’d pick back up again, it wouldn’t last nearly as long, maybe a few days this time.
Then I was right back to my old ways and nowhere near the goals I set out to accomplish.
I wondered why couldn’t I stick with good habits?
Why couldn’t I just do the things every day like I promised myself I would?
It’s because I was focusing so much on the doing part.
That’s when it hit me that I’d have to make a total identity shift in order to stick with my goals.
I should have been focusing more on being a person who does those good habits on a regular basis.
It was time to tear down the person I was to become the person who goes to the gym consistently, eat good foods consistently, and be the guy that wakes up earlier because its a part of my identity.
You can perform the actions necessary to facilitate change, but if you haven’t become the person who actually does those things, the good habits won’t stick.
Autumn is the season of change, when nature prepares for winter and sheds its old leaves.
This is what you’ll need to do too if you want to become a person who accomplishes the goals you set out to do in 2024.
You must enter a season of shedding the leaves of the person you used to be, to step into the person you must become.
It can be a scary time to turn away all of those things you’ve clung to in the past, but you must if you want to grow.
That’s what my new piece Autumn represents.
If you’re having a tough time sticking to goals, let these marigolds be your reminder that its time for the parts of you that are holding you back, to fall away during this season of your life.
And as your leaves fall away, the new you will be in full bloom too.
What are some goals you set for yourself this year?
What good habits do you want to establish?
And lastly, how can I help?
I’d love to hear from you!
Would you enjoy personally addressed messages like these delivered straight to your inbox [once] every week?
Emails are my preferred form of communicating with you, where I can really let my personality shine and how I can connect with you authentically.
I also know my words are reaching you every time I type them (vs. the off-chance that the social media algorithms get me in front of you instead.)