All week I have written about New Year’s Resolutions. I have provided principles to help you keep your resolutions, provided an action plan, taught you how to gain leverage on your resolutions, and discussed how to do more with less. Today I want to talk about your attitude.

800px-New-Year_Resolutions_Wikimedia

Over the last two weeks, I have walked an average of an hour a day. I am starting to feel more healthy already, and this is encouraging. I have also been more intentional about what I have eaten.

My Confession

But this morning I ate a cheese Danish.

This act of self-betrayal was quite a blow to my psyche. Now, this transgression was not a matter of life or death, but statistics show that 25% of those who make New Year’s Resolutions give up within the first week.

I failed this morning, but today does not determine tomorrow.

Your Attitude

Source: Army.mil

The Battle of Shiloh was “the bloodiest single day of fighting yet experienced on the North American continent.”

After the first day of the bloody engagement, General Grant tried to get some rest under a large oak tree. He was injured and tired. It was there that General Grant and Major General Sherman, his second-in-command,  discussed the battle:

‘Well, Grant,’ said Sherman, ‘we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?’ ‘Yes,’ Grant replied, ‘lick ’em tomorrow, though.’

Lick ’em Tomorrow, Though.

Get your MBA Now from Charleston Southern UniversityIn any battle of attrition (weight-loss, finances, writing, education, getting organized, quitting smoking) you can’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

So you haven’t completed your New Year’s Resolutions perfectly. That is OK. Press on. You’ll lick ’em tomorrow.

How have you gotten back on track after a setback?

-Darin Gerdes, Ph.D.

PS. General Grant named his horse Jeff Davis (the President of the Confederacy).

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Dr. Gerdes is the Director of Graduate Programs in the School of Business at Charleston Southern University. All ideas expressed on www.daringerdes.com are his own.