Happiness and New Beginnings

I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions.  Most people fail at them within a few weeks.  So then they give up… until next year.

But hold on!  Maybe there’s a better way to approach self-improvement, one goal at a time.

The start of the new year, in my opinion, just one occasion for creating change.  Think about how many new beginnings occur every year:

• New Year’s Day, first of the year, start of the First Quarter (in business)
• Beginning of Winter Quarter/Winter Semester (in school)
• The first day of Spring
• Opening Day in Baseball
• Easter/Passover
• Start of the Second Quarter
• Memorial Day (the “official” start of summer)
• Graduations
• the first day of Summer
• Start of the Third Quarter
• Start of the NFL exhibition season
• Beginning of the School year
• the first day of Autumn
• Start of the Fourth Quarter
• the beginning of the year-end holiday season
• Return from Vacation (any time of year)
• Completion of any long-term project… and the start of another
• Starting a new job
• Getting a promotion
• Starting a new task on the same job
• The start of any new month
• The start of a new week (e.g. Sunday, or Monday…)
• Add your own: _______________

Little Changes, All the Time

Every time you experience a new beginning, you have an opportunity to start over in some area of your life.  Will you fail, sometimes?  Yes.  When you carry a perspective that things are CONTINUALLY new, however, you give yourself permission to fall down, get back up, and try again in a few days or a week, rather than giving up on yourself until next Jan 1.

When you adopt a mindset of “little changes, all the time” you can make self-improvement part of Who You Are, rather than some Big Event that is all scary and hard and ‘different.’

When you fail, you can look to the next “beginning” in your life to restart your efforts in earnest.

Having multiple beginnings in your year also allows you to FOCUS your goals.  Instead of having to create change in five major areas in January, pick one.  Yes, just One.  And let go of the rest, for now.  Practice the one shift every day, every day, every day, until it starts to feel routine.  Then pull up the next goal and introduce the next little change a few months later, at your next beginning point.

The path to Happiness is not direct and continuous.  The path is winding and full of twists and turns and backtracking and sideroads that lead nowhere.  Give yourself permission to keep coming back and starting over on the path you really want to take.

Make a list of all the times in a year you can declare a “new beginning.”

You have as many chances as you give yourself!

Happiness is Colored Socks

Today, I celebrate colored socks.

Two months ago I offered my newsletter readers 13 ideas for changing the world, starting with themselves.  One of those ideas (and the one most often commented on) was, “Wear Colored Socks (or something that adds a splash of color, flamboyant, or “wild” to your wardrobe).  The concept is that colored socks start conversations, can create smiles, and shift moods.  Fun stuff.

Well, this concept caught on with my family. who are always on the look out for novel gift ideas

On Christmas morning, then, I received numerous packages filled with fun accessories for the feet.  My daughter had scoured the Internet to find me a literal rainbow of footwear.  This picture is not a stock photo — it is a display of my new colored socks (sans the bright orange ones that I was actually wearing at the time…)

I’ve owned argyle and patterned socks before.  But I gotta tell you, it’s a whole new ballgame when you leave the house wearing dress slacks and a pair of neon orange tube socks, or when you are a communion minister at church and someone spots your kelly green hose.

My socks have been starting LOTS of conversations over the past few days, and every one of those conversations has been a happy one.

I have a coaching colleague who wears red.  I don’t actually know if it’s a ‘signature’ thing with her, or simply a matter of personal preference, but I can’t think of a time in the past five years when I’ve run into Regina Olbinsky that she was not wearing red clothing or a red accessory or highlight somewhere on her person — a belt, a purse, a splash of red jewelry, or a red business suit or jacket.  Regina always stands out in a roomful of business people mostly dressed in subdued blues, greys, and black.  She creates a spark, and I believe part of that is through her bold use of color.

Do NOT underestimate the power of little things to change the world.

Speaking from personal experience over the course of just five days, I have been witness to several dozen people experiencing a moment of lightness and pure joy that might not have occurred for them if not for the smile that my socks brought to their faces.

Happiness and Colored Socks.  Who knew?

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