Well, we’ve come to the first week of February. How are your resolutions holding up? Still on track with your exercise habits, your weight loss plan, your intentions to read your Bible every day? Chances are good that something – let’s call it Life – has interfered with your well-intentioned goals. I don’t mean to be discouraging; statistics and reality bear witness to the fact that resolutions are hard to see through, for a variety of reasons.
Maybe you’re more like me though, and dismiss New Year’s resolutions as pie-in-the-sky unrealistically optimistic plans tied to an arbitrary and relatively meaningless point in time. It’s still likely that you do set goals and intentionally go about some measure of improvement, though tied to a different time of year. (Personally, I tie mine to my birthday; marking the passage of time there tends to keep me more realistic than the start of a new year.) Now is still as good of a time as any to take stock of your progress and how it’s developing.
Fear not; this isn’t intended to be depressing or discouraging. It’s actually my intention to encourage you. This may be about the time that any lingering resolutions are left by the wayside, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Results and growth and progress are less about perfection and unbroken streaks (although those are nice) and more about perseverance in the face of difficulty. It’s ok to pick up those resolutions and start again, even in the first week of February. (Arbitrary and mostly meaningless points in time mean you can start again at any other arbitrary and meaningless point in time.) We often hear (at least I’ve heard it numerous times) that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. There’s a lot of truth to that, and I’m not recommending slipshod work on anything. But at the same time, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly or imperfectly also. The goal isn’t (or shouldn’t be) perfection, and the benefit isn’t found in achieving perfection. The benefit is in the cumulative total, and you can always add to that.
I’ll mention one practical technique that has helped me to continue in good efforts when I’d rather not, and that’s shifting the way I talk to myself about taking a break. Historically, I’ve told myself that I can always start again tomorrow, which is true. That’s always an option; however, momentum is hard to regain once lost. I’ve shifted to telling myself that I can always skip tomorrow, or do ____ for a shorter time period or lesser distance tomorrow, if I still feel the same way. Take it or leave it; use it if it’s helpful, and set it aside if it’s not; just something I’ve found makes a difference in my own personal efforts.
A wise friend once told me not to let mediocre be the enemy of good. She meant it as an exhortation to exercise discernment, to not settle for tawdry but to maintain a pursuit of truth and excellence. Those are indeed wise words that apply to so many aspects of life. Here though, don’t let perfection become the enemy of good. Do it imperfectly.