Episode 028 - New Year, New Ending...

Hear The Thesis

The Thursday Thesis  - 29/12/2016

“A Change Will Do You Good”

You, like me, will break your New Year’s Resolution within 10 days of making it.
Everybody does it, so don’t protest: you did it last year, and the year before that – same as I did.

But what happens after you break your NYR is more important than whether you broke it in the first place.

If you do what most people do, you’ll throw your hands up in the air and bemoan your failure as though it were the end of the story.
To add insult to injury, you might conclude that you’re a miserable piece of dog-crap and that you knew you’d fail.

Congratulations!
You’ve just turned a temporary setback into a permanent defeat: no wonder you feel so down on yourself.

So what else can you do, having – once again - failed to keep your promise to yourself?

Get over it.

So you scoffed a massive slice of cake, drank too much or lit up yet another foul-smelling cancer-stick: so what?
It was something you did in that moment, so maybe you could remind yourself that you’re better than that and begin again?

No guilt, no self-loathing – how would you feel, giving yourself another chance to rise again?

Call it a course-correction, a glitch, a temporary error – call it something that is NOT PERMANENT and NOT PERSONAL.
Not permanent and Not Personal identifies the fact that breaking your NYR was a behaviour occurring at a point in time, and is not who You are.

And you already know that you’re only failing as long as you keep doing what you don’t want to do, or being who you don’t want to be.

If you fail for one day, then get up off your knees and keep doing what you really want, you will be successful in the end.

One day of failure in your diet or fitness Resolution is not the end of the story – unless you decide that it’s all over and you give up.

Errors and failures are inevitable, but defeat is only an option.

The trick is to try again, just one more time than you fail.

The Samurai say “Six times down, Seven times up!”
In Texas they tell you that you aren’t a real cowboy until you’ve fallen off your horse six times.
Get up off the floor, get back on the horse and try again.

It’s only defeat if you choose to accept it.

You’re better than that, aren’t you?

Happy New Year.

© Neil Cowmeadow 2016
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net