Intention + Dedication = Possibility

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Bryan Yates, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.

Resolutions, or intentions, are like dreams. They are an expression of an unfulfilled wish. I hear a lot of those wishes this time of year. “This year, I am going to ….” You can fill in the blank with any desire here (be fitter, eat better, sleep more, go on vacation, be a better spouse, etc.). Whenever I hear someone announce “I am going to,” I immediately think that person is still in a state of wishful thinking, unprepared to actually make their hoped-for change. It implies there are conditions in place keeping them from changing. It feels like there is a gigantic “IF” blocking the way. “I am going to get fitter, IF….” If what?

At some point, to make those resolutions go from wish to reality, we have to pivot from “I am going to” to “I will” or, even better, “I am.”

Five years ago today, I stopped drinking alcohol. Drinking was something I started at 14 or so and continued with progressive intensity for another 29 years. The process of just getting ready to quit took five years. I told my wife more than one time, “this is it, I swear.” It never was. I lived suspended in a state of “I am going to quit.” Until, that is, I hit my personal wall andmy “going to” needed to become “I am.”

Quitting alcohol wasn’t easy for me. It was, in truth, harder than any bike race of any distance or intensity I’d ever done. It required obsessive focus, a few really good coaches who’d ridden that road before me, the help of my wife, and a clear plan.

We’ve all seen the stat that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Even if that’s bullshit, I was willing to surrender to the placebo effect. Every morning, I told myself, “just make it through today without drinking.” I stayed busy to keep my mind off my age-old nightly “Ginervals” ritual. By the end of each night, I counted myself one day closer to the magic 21-day number. By the time I reached that first goal, I gave myself another goal of three months, which eventually became six months, and then grew to a full year. I treated—and continue to treat—the process as a life-long endurance event. Every January 12 becomes another giant lap of sobriety I mark by announcing the number of days. It’s up to 1827 and counting to be precise.

The point here is not to recognize the effort of my sobriety. Rather, it’s about all of us becoming serious about those changes we want in our lives, jobs, health, relationships. It’s an appeal to move as quickly as possible from the very conditional state of “I am going to” to the more tactically active state or “I am.”

It’s time to stop wishing. Find your goal. Tell everyone who matters to you. Set a plan. Then get down to the work of living that goal. The road is not going to be smooth or the process easy, but it’ll be something to be proud of.

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