In one of his blogs entitled, Go to Work on a Regular Basis, Seth Godin, probably best know for his books, Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside, Permission Marketing and other marketing best sellers said, “Selling is hard. Writing is hard. Making a difference is hard. When you’re doing hard work, getting rejected, failing, working it out—this is a dumb time to make a situational decision about whether it’s time for a nap or a day off or a coffee break.”

That idea really struck a chord with me. “Do you ever catch yourself saying, “Maybe I should just check my email for a while or you say to yourself, I could sure use a nap right now?” Seth cautions us to not do that or else your old lizard brain can become quickly trained to use that escape hatch again and again. Consider how easy it is to condition ourselves to believe we are “entitled” to just goof off or to simply go off duty every once in a while.

For many years, I have been a student of the late Earl Nightingale, the guru of self improvement who some may remember for his deep-voiced recordings of such classics as The Strangest Secret, Acres of Diamonds and Lead the Field. His messages were always focused on how we can develop ourselves into the best we can be. To this day, I can clearly recall him saying in one of his recordings, “Do the best you can—that day.”

Woody Allen is credited with the comment that 90% of success is just showing up. However, I want to add, the other 10% is determined by how show up. Now, combine the idea of showing up with doing our best and pushing through by resisting the temptation to ease up.

As we approach the New Year, I recommend we heed these two simple admonitions. First, show up and really be there. Then, stick to what you are there to do—regardless of how hard it may seem at the time or how you may feel. Second, do our best—that day.

Consider what a difference it can make in our life and those whom we may influence by modeling those two simple ideas. Remember, someone is always watching us and we may be the positive example they need to make it through just one more day to a better life.

What are you going to do better or different to make 2012 your best year ever? Check out  the 100-day Journey to your best year ever www.YourBYE.com
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