Welcome to 2013

Welcome to 2013! I have spent the last few weeks thinking about what I was able to accomplish in 2012 and what I would like to do in 2013. I don't really like the idea of a New Year's resolution as they have become a bit of a mockery and are easily ignored. I do set goals, but I don't think of them as resolutions...I look at the beginning of the year as a clean slate and plan accordingly.

As for 2012, here is a brief list of some things I was able to accomplish and also some things where I fell a little short:

• I married an amazing woman and my best friend.
• I finally made it out of the country again...spending time in Cahuita, Costa Rica. This was the best trip to date!
• I started running. Though I didn't run the 5K I planned on running, I still trained for it. I ran further than I ever have.
• My goal to read 52 books in 2012 fell short with only having read 44.
• At work, I helped lead Great Plains SPCA to the best year of adoptions in our history (though I wouldn't have been able to do it without all the staff around me). 
• I also worked way too many hours helping open our brand new adoption center.
• I wrote my 176 blog posts and saw my 20,000th page view.
• My credit card debt was eliminated.  
• I celebrated (is this really the right word?) my third anniversary of sobriety.

In 2013, I have some goals I plan on reaching:

• Reading 52 books is back on the list.
• I will run a 5K.
• I will run a 10K.
• I will write 3 posts (at least) each week for this blog.
• In just a few days, I will celebrate my tenth year being vegan.
• I will pay off three more monthly bills.
• At work, I will help lead Great Plains SPCA to another record year.

There are other things I really would like to do, but I haven't set them as actual goals (yet). Some are still ideas I am toying around with (a novel) and others are still a little vague and not yet goal worthy (taking less personally, living more in the moment, laughing more). What goals do you have for 2012?

Write them down. Figure out a good way to track them. Hold yourself accountable. Tell them to someone else so they can hold you accountable. Hell, comment here and we can hold each other accountable. Then, start working on them. We only have 365 days in 2013 (now 364), so we have to start now. No more procrastinating. No more waiting until tomorrow. No more waiting on other people. Let's get to work. This is going to be an amazing year, but only if we help make it one!

Do What Needs To Be Done

This is one of those times when the pictures says it all. Don't wait for someone else to do what you can do. Get out there and do what needs to be done.

Stop waiting for the right time or the right place or the right people or the right anything. The right time is now. You are in the right place. You are the right person. Do the work and make your world exactly what you want it to be. 

Live the life you want to live and build the things you want to see. It's not always going to be easy, but with hard work and belief in yourself, you can do anything.

Stop Talking

Sooner or later, we all have to shut up and get to work.

Talking without doing does nothing but stroke our ego. How much better would the world be if we stopped talking about doing great things and just started doing them? What have you been talking about doing and haven't gotten around to actually doing? What's stopping you from getting started today?

Don't let anything hold you back. If you repeatedly talk about something, it is worth doing. Right now is the perfect time to stop talking and start doing.

"Doing leads more surely to talking than talking to doing."
                                                                   -Vance Havner

Stop Complaining

Every day, I hear people complaining about the things that are without doing anything to change them. I do a lot of this complaining myself. The thing is, complaining doesn't change anything. Complaining doesn't get people to do things better. Complaining doesn't show people a better way to do something. Complaining doesn't put you in a positive mood and complaining certainly doesn't help you get things done. Complaining does demotivate you and demotivates everyone around you.

If you don't like something, then change it. Don't complain about it, change it. This is a simple concept, but one most people will never grasp. We feel better when we complain and people listen. It takes work to actually make changes, but complaining is easy. We might have to have difficult conversations to make changes, but complaining allows us to have easy bitch sessions. We may have to hold ourselves to a higher standard to make changes, but complaining allows us to feel like we did something when we really didn't. We may have to eliminate something we like to make changes, but with complaining, we can convince ourselves that we don't really need to anything.

Stop complaining. If you don't like something, then work on changing it. Putting in the work and making change isn't going to be as easy as complaining, but it's going to make you feel a lot better. It will also help you improve. Quit whining and start working towards making things the way you think they should be. If we all stop complaining and start calling each other on it when we do, we will all have an amazing shot at success.

Start today. If you feel the need to complain or you catch yourself complaining about anything, stop, think about what you can do to make things change AND do whatever it takes to make the change. Have the difficult conversation, exercise more, study longer, watch less television, do some extra work, eat a little less, write more, say no, quit your job, take that chance, ask for help, ask the person out...do whatever it takes to make the change you need to make. Try it for one month. At the end of October, look back on you month and see if things improved. See if you feel better about yourself and the life you live. See if the lack of complaining changes your outlook and your motivation. Try it for one month...if it doesn't do anything, you can always go back to bitching and moaning about everything.

Personally, I would rather get shit done.

Positive vs. Negative

Sometimes, I just feel as if my best isn't good enough. I can't do the work as well as I would like. I can't express my thoughts in writing as succinctly as I hoped. I'm not smart enough. I'm not a good leader. I can't manage people. I have doubts and fears and I let them overtake my life. I wish I could be more and do more, but I can't find the motivation to do anything.

While we all feel this way from time to time, none of these thoughts are helpful. In fact, all of these thoughts are harmful. These thoughts cause people to be depressed. These thoughts urge people to escape with drugs and alcohol. These thoughts cause people to quit doing what they love to do. These thoughts stop people from making their life better, because they listen to the voice saying they are not good enough. These thoughts tear us down and leave us feeling overwhelmed and worthless.

Sooner or later, we have to grow tired of allowing negative thoughts to control our life. We have to stop listening to them and letting them tear us down. We have to do things for us and our way. We have to believe we can do anything. We can be more and we can do more, we just have to do the work. Ignore the doubts. Ignore the fears. Instead of allowing these thoughts to creep in, we have to become our own best cheerleader

By doing this, we can be more present in the now. We can stop letting other people frustrate us. We can stop doubting our abilities. We can stop worrying about/fearing things to come. We can stop dwelling on things that happened in the past. By paying attention to our thoughts as we have them, we can stop listening to the negative thoughts and consciously replace them with positive thoughts. Over time, if we continue to work on this, the negative thoughts will start to decrease and will automatically be replaced with positive thoughts.

This doesn't mean life will become all unicorns and rainbows. There will still be challenges and difficulties and negative times, but more and more of our time will be spent thinking positively. As we become a more positive person, the feelings of inadequacy will lessen. We may not do everything we wish we were able to do, but we will be giving our best and will know it is all we can do. Will life be any easier? Probably not, but it will be more fun and fulfilling. It all starts with recognizing our negative thoughts and consciously replacing them with positive.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of the negative thoughts and feelings. I am tired letting my own thoughts hold me back. I am tired of allowing my mind to tear me down. It's time to take our thoughts back and become the people we are meant to be. Let's start today...it's time to ignore the doubts and fears while replacing them with positive thoughts. Will you give it a shot?

Start By Doing What Is Necessary

We spend a great deal of time thinking about what we can't do and what we don't think is possible. Instead of working towards goals we have, we think about how hard it is or how it can't be done. We have failed without even starting. We give up before doing any work.

No matter what it is, to accomplish anything, we have to start. Our goals will not come easily and we won't be able to accomplish them immediately, but unless we start, we will never accomplish any of them. No matter what your goals are or how out of reach they seem, taking the first step brings them closer.

Just as you wouldn't be able to get up tomorrow and run a marathon, none of our goals are something we will accomplish overnight. You have to get up every morning and put in the work. You can't let anything stop you. You have to have passion and motivation and dedication. Nothing is impossible, if you believe you can do it.

If you want to run a marathon, but haven't ever run before, find a training regimen to follow and start running. If you want to quit anything, focus on not doing it. If you want a new job, start networking and get your resume into people's hands. If you want to eat healthier, purchase healthier food. If you want to write a novel, start writing every day. Whatever it is you want to do, start out doing what is necessary to get there. It may not seem like much, but the small amounts of work you put in to start will add up.

Don't let difficulties hold you back. Don't let doubts stop you. Don't worry what anyone says or thinks. If the people around you don't support your quest towards your goals and dreams, eliminate them from your life. Don't let the voice stop you. If you dream big, set your goals, believe in yourself and do the work, anything is possible. It just starts with doing what is necessary.

Make the Choice

For many of us, we feel a little bit of emptiness inside because we don't do everything we want to do. We may do some things that matter, but we aren't doing enough or the right things because we still have this feeling of needing to do more or something different. Instead of listening to this feeling or examining the reasons behind this feeling, we do things to ignore it.

We see people doing amazing things. We watch people around us who seem to constantly succeed and do things we wish we were doing. We watch professional athletes and think they are genetically gifted or given opportunities we never were. We think people are more talented or better educated or gifted or given chances we never were. Instead of thinking about what we can do or what we need to do differently, we think about why we can't. We think about what is holding us back. We make excuses and continue to have the little bit of emptiness inside.

I'm tired of excuses. I'm tired of coming up with reasons why I can't. I'm tired of only doing enough to get by. I'm tired of not trying. I'm tired of not listening to and examining the emptiness to figure out what I need to do to silence it.

Instead of coming up with excuses for why we can't, we need to come up with a plan to make it happen. Instead of looking at other people and thinking they have something we don't, we need to figure out how to get to where we want to be. Instead of doing anything we can to ignore the feeling of needing to do more, we need to examine it and figure out what we are supposed to do to silence it. Instead of doing nothing, we need to do something.

We can do anything we put our minds to. We can accomplish any goals we really want to accomplish. We must choose to do them. We must choose to stop making excuses. We must choose to figure out what is going to silence the feeling of emptiness. We must choose to do the work. We must choose to do things differently. We must choose to something, anything to push ourselves forward.

What choice will you make?