Resolutions

This was our sunrise today.  The footprints you barely see are mine - and Louie's.  Remember, Louie is our cat who acquired us from an open house when his owners wouldn't take him to an indoor existence.  He's taken walks with us before, and when the boys are here he stays close to them.  Yesterday the temperature was about 12 degrees when I walked, but I invited him.  He stayed in my tracks all the way up the hill and into the cornfield.  An amazing cat.

So my main resolution is to walk, and walk some more.  I wear weights in the house (and have been known to wear them on floor time in the office).  I believe fully in the power of walking and the importance of it. Since Boo passed away I haven't gone out as much.  But I will, with or without Louie.  It is a solid resolution.

Every Monday morning - and this is a Monday - I receive an e-mail from John Arquette (of John Arquette Properties).  He attended a few of my brokers opens and started sending me his motivational messages:  Monday Wake Up Call: Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead.  At one point they stopped, but an agent in his firm got them going again for me.  (Don't tell him, but I share the e-mail with a non-real estate friend.)  They contain an insight and quotes.  My mini-sermon for the week ahead.

At New Year's the e-mail was about resolutions, and how they peter out over time.  A study showed that only 8% of the resolutions were kept and the specific goals were reached.  Each year, every year.  Further, by March, 40% are ditched already.  I am one of the 92% year after year.  The fitness and weight-loss thing....

I've kept others though.  I resolved not to rush a few years ago and it became part of my habits.  You will see me sitting places happily playing Words with Friends or texting while waiting for an appointment I have arrived for early.  I have learned not to do that in the Fiat on a street, however.  I look for driveways and parking lots now.

Last year Alex, my son, told no one and went ahead with his resolution to lose weight.  When we saw him at the end of January it was obvious a change had been made.  By May he was skinny....a loss of 50 pounds by the fall!  He did it the way the study in the Arquette wake up e-mail suggested...small goals, small gains, and he met his goal much sooner than expected.  The photos (which I won't share) of him in Bethany Beach in 2015 vs. 2016 are amazing!  Other members of his extended family were also inspired and lost weight; his father-in-law equaled the 50 pounds!  (Not me, not yet....)

He did this before, when he was a sophomore in high school in Skaneateles.  His tennis coach, Mac, told him about his own weight-loss process and Alex went right ahead and did it - in a couple months. His before and after photo (Phish hat, NIN t-shirt, Cayman Islands background) are on my desk now.  As an adult, with the two boys and a demanding job, he lost the weight with his health in mind this time.

I'm proud of him and the tenacity it took for him to accomplish his goal - and now the pride he takes in keeping the weight off.

So it can be done - and in his case as in many others it should be done.  Small steps, small goals....but start now.

To quote from the Wake Up Call and Zig Ziglar, with emphasis added:

      What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become 
           by achieving your goals.

Happy New Year!