You’re just winding down from a nice-long 4th of July weekend. And suddenly the thought hits you: Half of the year has gone already.
What happened to those goals I set at the beginning of the year? you ask yourself. Realizing you may not be much farther along than when you initially set them, you get discouraged. Life somehow got in the way of your new year aspirations.
Perhaps you were overly optimistic when you set your goals for the year and didn’t take into account all the demands you might face or the energy and commitment it might require. Or perhaps an unforeseen event occurred: a family emergency, health crisis, job loss or some other jarring circumstance. Whatever the reason, here you now stand; midway through the year with little to show for it.
It’s time for a mid-year fresh start.
When I was in high-school, my buddies and I would take out our competitive aggressions on the bowling alley. Real bowling alley rough and tumble. Dare miss the headpin and you’d be subject to endless gibing and name calling. Gutter balls provoked even worse. But it was all in good fun; as league teammates we taunted each other to get better. Our goal was to beat our individual averages.
Bowling is one of those games, like golf, where, if your play remains consistent, you can get a pretty good idea where you’ll finish about mid-way through the game. By then the die was cast, unless you pulled out all the stops and made some serious adjustments.
One of the stops we pulled out, when it looked like we were significantly at risk of not bowling our average, was the fifth frame line. We’d draw a line demarcating the disastrous first half of the game from what would be a glorious turn-around. It was our fresh start; an act of professional forgiveness on record for all to see.
It didn’t always work. Sometimes the first half play was so disastrous that no amount of remediation could get us to our goal. Nevertheless, the practice continued. Why? Because second-half play always improved.
Maybe you’re behind on your goals for the year. Perhaps even disastrously so. But what difference might a mid-year fresh start make? Instead of continuing your level of play and facing greater discouragement at the end of the year, why not make some adjustments now?
Go ahead. Boldly draw that line and proclaim that the start does not guarantee the finish. After all, isn’t it a good thing that life is not like bowling? We get so many more frames to improve our game.
What mid-year fresh start do you need to make?
