Are You a Member of the 12% Club?

Your ability to grow always starts with your willingness to change.

December 31, 2019

“Past and Present I know well; each is a friend and sometimes an enemy to me. But it is the quiet, beckoning Future, an absolute stranger, with whom I have fallen madly in love.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons

Do you know what’s harder than making it through Navy SEALs BUDS training? More difficult than becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or a successful novelist? Keeping our New Year’s resolutions. In every class of the Navy BUDS candidates, only 20-30 percent of those accepted end up pinning the SEAL Trident on their chest. Of the billions worldwide that make New Year’s resolutions, only 12% keep their commitments. Many of us have never been part of the exclusive and rare 12% club. Why is it so difficult to keep our promises to ourselves? Because New Year’s resolutions are more dreamlike wishes than goal-oriented changes. We can use Albert Einstein to help us understand how we never become one of the twelve percent. Einstein once said:

The same applies when establishing New Year’s resolutions. Spend more time thinking about what you can accomplish, then making a blanket statement. If you know the proper path, reaching the goal is never hard. The reason most fail is they don’t understand the way and the why behind what they are doing. We set high standards that have no chance of happening based on our present-day environment. We end up failing before we even start.

Many of us in 2020 will set out to change our diet, read more, spend more time with our family and loved ones, or do something remarkable. We yearn to make radical transformation quickly, but something always gets in the way. So before you set this year’s resolutions, ask yourself this question:

What could I alter in my daily life that would allow me to build a habit and therefore change my life?

It might be eliminating soft drinks, limiting your candy intake, or walking a mile each morning — something small and attainable. Then after thirty days, add onto the task while building on what you accomplished. Instead of making a year-long change, make a thirty-day change. Your ability to grow always starts with your willingness to change.

Before long, you will join the 12% club as an exclusive member!

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