Entering into the new year, did you, like many others around the world, make a 2023 resolution? Did you make a resolution to start, stop or do something better?
If you look up the top 10 New Year resolutions, you will find they consist of three basic categories: money, weight or personal growth.
Regarding weight or personal health resolutions, January is the No. 2 month for people to join gyms, with March being No. 1. Do you know why March? The weather starts getting warmer, and people remember their resolution around health and what they want to look like in those summer clothes. A resolution is defined as a firm decision to do or not do something, the key word being “decision.”
Can I challenge you to turn your resolution (decision) into something different? I want to challenge you to turn your decision to do or not to do something into a standard. A standard is defined simply as “a used or accepted as normal.”
Let me put this into context for you through a personal story. I was a little overweight in the belly department a few years back. I’m 5’8” and, at the time, weighed about 200 lbs. I looked like a coke can, short and stubby. Each year I made a resolution to get more muscle, lose some body fat and fit into a few suits I had grown out of in the midsection. My suit vests felt more like girdles than the third piece of a tailored suit.
It wasn’t until I set a personal “standard” around my health that things began to change. My standard became to weigh 195 lbs, have a 33-inch waist, and have 12-14% body fat. That was to be the norm for my body. My resolutions, or decisions from there forward throughout the year, supported the standard for my health. Resolutions became what I do throughout the year once I set a new standard for myself.
Every year I set a new standard in my life for that year, which I will make my new norm. Each year I have become better than my previous year as I set higher standards.
To start, define your current standards in your life. Start with basic categories such as health, family, career and spirituality. I recommend starting with your health; if you do not take care of yourself, how can you expect to take care of anyone else? A wise man once said to love others as you love yourself. Start with getting yourself right. If you are physically in the right place, meeting your health standards, move on to another category to create a new standard.
Imagine yourself five years from now, anxiously awaiting the new year to set a new standard. For the past five years, you have continually raised a personal standard. Throughout the years, you have made multiple resolutions to meet your new standard.
You see, who you will become in five years is only limited by the standards you set for yourself.
I would love to hear what your 2023 standard will be, email me with the subject “#2023standard” at Peter@LevinsonTeam.com or text me at 405.532.6969.