Making Today Day 1

Am I the only one that didn’t get that “New Year, New You” feeling?

On Jan 1st, my husband tested positive for Covid. The kids and I stayed away; I slept on the couch. A few days later, I tested positive, and I joined the other prisoner/ patient in the bedroom for the next week. I won’t bore you with the details, we have all been there (multiple times), but needless to say, this was a rude start to the year.

I am the kind of person that LOVES the beginning of the year. I set New Year’s resolutions, get back to the gym, eat healthily, start a new book. You get the idea. And this takes me on a journey of self-actualized smugness for maybe a month - but I really count on that month. I like feeling motivated, driven, and full of possibility. The rest of year will chip away at the energy level, but at least I am starting the year with a full tank.

So, what to do when your year starts low, and you fear that it’s only down from here?

Make today Day 1. Loosely borrowed from Jeff Bezos’s foundational concept that demands that those at Amazon accept what today has given and move on with a renewed focused on results. Day 2, he says, is when we fight the changes around us and we die a slow and painful death. The tweak I make is seeing today as the first day of anything we want it to be.

• This is Day 1 of my journey to a healthy and fulfilling life.

• This is Day 1 of creating a groundbreaking idea that transforms my team.

• This is Day 1 of resetting a difficult relationship with (fill in the blank).

We can set aside the baggage from the past and begin again any time we want.

On my Day 1, I started a 30-day yoga practice, cleared by inbox and I wrote this note to remind me (and anyone else who needed reminding) that any day can be the start of the best year ever.