One Small Step to Start Improving Your Life

Shortly into the new year, how are you doing on those new year resolutions you made? Many of us set a goal of starting a hobby, losing weight, or getting better organized. All the Sunday newspaper ads and online coupons will back you up on this, as they are full of containers in every color and design to make organizing seem like fun. But, many people find themselves in the same boat: one month into the new year and we have not made a dent in those resolutions. As the writer Samuel Beckett said, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."

Every day is a chance to start over and learn something from what we did or didn't do the day before. Life is too short to just go from one problem to the next and not use those lessons to teach ourselves and help others.

Is just getting by what you seem to do best? Remember when you were in school and did just enough to get by? Instead of reading a chapter that was the homework assignment, maybe you skipped the reading part and went straight to the questions at the end. If you'd read the chapter, pondered the questions, and listened in class instead of day dreaming, you could have answered those questions easily. Then came test time; you had to cram instead of using the small steps of your homework to be able to pass.

This happens to a lot of us today. We are good at hiding it from others. Sometimes we just get by at home and at work. At work when you slide by you will eventually be found out and then your job might be at stake. You don't really have that problem at home, do you? We all know the truth, and knowing the truth but not living it is what causes those guilty feelings. The remorse manifests itself in many ways: weight gain, financial problems, clutter taking over, and it even spills over into relationship problems. When we are confronted with our 'just getting by' ways, we might even redirect the attention from us to the problems or people around us.

Skating and skimping through life causes us to keep our heads down and we don't see what is going on around us. We feel like we are going as fast as we can and as a result, we go round and round in circles, condemned to repeat the same mistakes and stay stuck in the ruts we've created. How do we stop this vicious circle?

One way is to determine to be honest with yourself: don't set goals that you really don't mean to keep! After that, start small. Marla at flylady.net suggests you clean your sink every night. Just that one small habit spreads through the rest of your life.

There are no short cuts in life. Starting tomorrow with a plan, even just one small improvement in your routine will bring about changes that can last a lifetime.


------

Do you need a break? Treat yourself today to a night out in a new pair of Touch Ups Shoes or stay home with a Body Bath Gift Basket customized for you.