I realize how valuable new starts are. It’s a challenging, encouraging feeling to have a blank canvas, a newly tilled field, an open road. Fresh commitments are fueled by the thought: “This time I’m going to make it! I can feel it!”

It’s why January is considered the most disciplined month of the year. We have just come out of the other side of a series of food-filled holidays and money-spending months. Add to that the fact that “it’s a new year!”, and you have the formula to start afresh!

Until February hits.

Change is hard. It’s also not as simplistic as we sometimes make it. Here’s an example: Last spring I tore my Achilles tendon. After a reattachment surgery, I spent four months on crutches; no pressure on my foot at all! I wanted so badly to begin moving on my own, but I couldn’t! If I had just stood up on my foot right away, I would have went right back down. And hard.

And therein lies the problem of some January decisions. We find out that there is a process involved, and there might be more steps than we originally planned. We sometimes aren’t prepared to take the full weight of a new decision. So when we fall (e.g. – miss a day of exercise, botch our reading plans, lose our temper, eat fast food) then it’s time to give up… we failed. But failing isn’t falling – it’s quitting. So when you mess up, instead of saying, “I quit!” ask yourself: “What led to my decision?”

I have some goals for 2010, and to me, they’re exciting. But really I have only one main resolution this year: Get back up every time. I’m not going to let imperfection stop my goals. I have let one bummer day ruin several disciplined and motivated and successful days before. I’m squashing that.

Want to join me? Get up one more time than you fall this year! Let’s do it.