If Every Day was New Year’s Day
A new year is a new start in your mind. January 1st is like every other day on the calendar. The sun appears and disappears. Clocks tick 86,400 times.
Our ability to make the same thing different is astonishing.
You begin again on New Year’s Day because you think you can.
Perception shapes experience.
Image by Christoph Schütz from Pixabay
Thinking is a lens:
There are over 50 different new year’s days. The Jewish New Year is October 2-4, 2024. Islamic New Year is July 7-8, 2024. The New Year of the Zulu people occurs on the full moon of July. (Wikipedia)
The way you think about something impacts the way you perceive it. You can’t change physical reality with your mind. Pencils don’t become pizzas because you think they do. But thinking creates subjective experience.
January 1 is a new start because you think it is. In reality, every day is a new start. Your daily experiences would be richer if you thought today was a fresh beginning.
3 benefits of “new day – new beginning” thinking:
- Less baggage.
- Fresh resolve.
- More adapting.
If every day was New Year’s Day:
The past is a burden because you think it’s baggage.
Confront destructive attitudes.
- Be curious instead of pretending you know it all.
- Own it and make it right when you screw up.
- Choose to shape your life in small ways.
Engage in structured reflection.
Ask yourself the same questions every morning for a week. Take out a pen and answer these three questions.
- What’s working?
- What does progress look like? Think of relationships, learning, and personal growth.
- What will I do to fuel progress today?
Tip: Next week design three new questions for yourself. Train your brain to focus on things that matter.
Finish this sentence. “If every day was New Year’s Day ….”
“The Vagrant,” teaches people how to engage in structured self-reflection. I encourage you to get your copy today. The story is compelling and the exercises at the end set readers on a life-changing journey. Click here to purchase, The Vagrant, on Amazon.
Everything changes when we change the way we think about ourselves.
Structured Reflection … I like this.
Enjoy a Good New Year, Dan . Thanks for so many insightful day starters.
And Happy New Year to you, Ken. Who knows what good may come.
My Dad was an educator but I do think it can apply to business cycles as well. He said that each year is a fresh start and it is an opportunity to correct things that that you did wrong the previous year. As you stated there are many New Years, we just have to pick ours and focus on how we are going to make it a fresh start. The key is to focus on when we are going to make a fresh start and have a plan for how we are going to execute it.
Fireworks sellers would be very rich.
Hey Dan, thanks for sharing your thoughts daily… and helping to guide ours. I’m interested in your book an wonder if you have other outlets not linked to Amazon that I can buy from. That’s one of my daily resolutions. Thanks!
Hi, Cazzaroonie.
Thanks for your interest.
Any book retailer can get it for you, if they don’t have it. And these online vendors can serve you as well.
https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Vagrant/Dan-Rockwell/9781637743706?id=8765058497152
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-vagrant-dan-rockwell/1142959961?ean=9781637743706
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-vagrant-the-inner-journey-of-leadership-a-parable-john-david-mann/19675688?ean=9781637743706
When I taught college students, there was always great excitement the first week of the semester. A new start–new possibilities, new relationships etc. As the semester progressed the excitement dropped as students realized the work they had to put in to succeed in their courses.
Yes, success requires work, reflection, learning, and a willingness to make changes.
Dan–Happy New Year to you and all your followers.
Thanks Paul. It’s easy to begin with enthusiasm. 🙂
Be curious…love it. Been trying to ask genuine questions AND listening to the answers – just like mom would remind me to do!
Thanks, Ed. I find l am learning how to listen well over and over. We’re always learning to listen.