- Living Uninterrupted
- Posts
- The Daily New Year
The Daily New Year
Making 1% better choices to design a life you love
Something strange is happening this week. Or, rather, not happening.
I’m not in a classroom.
I’m not picking new pieces of music, writing lesson plans, decorating a bulletin board, or sitting in pointless meetings. I’m not looking at rosters, remembering faces and taking note of new ones. I’m not trying to adjust my daily rhythm back into alignment with the academic calendar. You’d think I’d be more relaxed than ever!
Yet my body is still stressed.
A better way of phrasing it is that my body feels like it should be stressed, so it’s making itself stressed. I feel like I should be feeling first-day jitters, extra tired at the end of the day, and like I’m snapping back to reality from a two-month dream. Maybe it’s that the body and mind have developed an addiction to the chaos of the school year—after all, I’ve been wired to it practically my entire life. One would think this newfound rest would be a gift, but resting can feel just as exhausting if we spend the entire time in angst.
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
As I am so often (painfully) reminded, we are the creators of our own suffering; the mind is the mason of its own prison. How many prisons have you built for yourself?
I’m too old for starting my own business.
I can’t afford to take a vacation.
I just don’t have time to cook healthy meals.
I’m not smart enough for learning a new language.
How many new cells do we construct every day, locking ourselves in a jail not of iron bars and barbed wire, but of thought patterns, habitual choices, and beliefs that incarcerate us in complacency?
Well I woke up late, so I can’t go to the gym.
I already broke my diet, so I might as well eat whatever I want.
I got off track today so I guess I’ll postpone my goals until tomorrow.
What do these self-constructed restraints do for us? Absolutely nothing. They are shackles guised as self-preservation. The good news is that you can start tearing them down just as easily as you built them up.
Most people celebrate the new year on January 1, the Gregorian New Year. The Chinese base theirs on the lunisolar calendar, the Church on the first day of Advent. Teachers celebrate the new year when they go back to work in August.
We could probably celebrate a different new year every day. Who cares which new year you choose to celebrate? Choose them all if you want. Today could be the first day of your new year.
Let’s pretend that it is for a moment.
What would your “New Year's Resolutions” be? Would you start walking more, or promise to go to bed earlier? Maybe your resolution would be to finally pay off your credit card debt or to slow down a little and spend more time with your loved ones? What’s stopping you from starting right now?
Let me suggest a different new year’s resolution: to become 1% better today than you were yesterday.
The point of this resolution isn’t to reinvent ourselves overnight. We burn ourselves out when on December 31 we are lounging on the couch eating leftovers and on January 1 we abruptly decide we’re going to wake up for a 5am run, journal every day, and eat healthier. Those may be meaningful goals indeed, but we can often get lost in thinking about the distance we have to travel. We forget that the destination means nothing if we are walking in the wrong direction and that our best chance at reaching our goal is in simply putting one foot in front of the other. Though only 1% better a day might seem slow, it is always slow and steady that wins the race. We are moving every day, and every action we take affirms what we want from the Universe.
So how do we know if we are still on the Yellow Brick Road, instead of wandering off in a field of poppies? How can we be sure that we are moving towards our goal and not in the opposite direction?
"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears."
“Look down, look up,” as I so often remind my singers. In music, this reminds musicians that we are making music collectively and eye contact leads to musical synchronicity. In our lives, this image leads us to watch our feet (our daily habits and actions) to make sure we don’t trip, but to also look up periodically into the distance to ensure that we are, indeed, still heading in the correct direction (checking in with the goal, keeping our “eye on the prize” if you will). The path may curve up ahead, but are we still fundamentally moving towards where we want to be?
Clarity is not a prerequisite to action, something I have to continually remind myself. It’s the exact opposite: clarity comes from action. The farther away our goal is from where we are now, the more difficult it becomes to be sure we are on the right path, especially when it twists and turns unexpectedly.
When I find myself needing some reassurance that I am moving in the right direction, here are some questions I ask myself:
Is this action aligned with my values? If it is, then it is at least a step in the right direction, regardless of the immediate result?
Would the version of me that has achieved the goal be making this decision?
Am I actively creating more of who I want to be, or more of who I don't?
In other words, if my goal is to lose 10 lbs, and I want to eat an entire pint of ice cream, I ask myself this question: Would the version of Coleman who is 10lbs lighter eat an entire pint of ice cream? If the answer to that question is no, it’s probably a good indicator for what action I need to take. If my goal is to work for four hours per day, and I find myself mindlessly scrolling on TikTok, would the version of Coleman who only works four hours per day be doing that?
Would the version of you that has accomplished your goal make the same choice you are making now?
Would doing more of this action lead to success or distraction?
The lesson is not in determining if we are still “on the right path.” The learning happens when our focus shifts to: is this current action supporting my goal? We can only evaluate ourselves one moment at a time, and when we are intentional with every action, we move more fluidly in alignment with our inevitable success.
That’s all it takes. One choice, one question, one action towards becoming one step closer. Becoming 1% better releases our responsibility to change overnight or overhaul our entire lives. It is showing up for yourself to be 1% better, in some way, today. You can be kinder to your coworker, more patient on the road, push yourself for one more rep, or to pick yourself up again and hold your chin up high. When we choose actions that help us become a little better, a little healthier, and a little happier, we build in growth as an integral part of our lives, and before you know it, you begin to notice how unrecognizably wonderful your life has become. Simply because you chose intentional action over ambivalent meandering.
“Each morning, we are born again,” says The Buddah. Each morning, we start anew.
Happy New Year!
You don’t need fireworks, or a kiss at midnight to give yourself permission to choose yourself today and every day. Kiss yourself at midnight if you want and choose today as the start of a new year in your life. The year you finally prioritize becoming the best version of yourself; the year you choose intentional fulfillment over a life of passive numbness.
A few exciting updates:
Disconnect to Reconnect
This week was the launch of a new series I am doing with Bri Miller, a holistic health coach and counselor from the United Kingdom, discussing how to cultivate a sense of presence and awareness amidst the constant distractions of technology. In this multi-part series, we are exploring a variety of topics surrounding the intersection of humanness and technology. We will be covering topics such as the attention economy and technology addiction, the relationship between our real world and virtual worlds, pros and cons of technology and how to use it effectively without sacrificing our connection with ourselves and the real world around us. We had our first session last Friday. You can check out our talk here!
Our next live session will be next Friday August 8 @ 3PM EST on my Instagram page @the.uninterrutped.life! We’d love to see you there for a great discussion on the attention economy, some neuroscience behind why we have become so addicted to our phones, and how to approach a healthier relationship with technology.
NeoNexus Launch
Last week, I also launched my NeoNexus Private Coaching experience! This was a very exciting launch for me as it is my first small-group cohort of private clients. In the NeoNexus program, you and I will work together to create tangible transformation in your life in 12 short weeks—uncovering your goals, your priorities, and the path forward in your wellness journey. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and I am excited to help you achieve the fulfilling life you know you deserve, one day at a time.
In the coaching program, you will get 11, 60-minute calls with me to work through your wellness priorities and to establish doable daily actions as well as structures and frameworks to support your long-term wellness success. You decide what success looks like, and I am committed to helping you get there without the burnout or chaos; just putting one foot in front of the other as we design a life you can’t wait to wake up to.
I opened up 5 spaces in my program and overnight, 3 of them were filled!
You already started your journey by signing up for this newsletter. And I commend you on your commitment to becoming just 1% better every day. If you feel like you’re ready to invest in this journey and achieve your goals at an accelerated rate, fill out the NeoNexus Onboarding Application to get started.
As I mentioned in last week’s email, if this program isn’t for you, and you are wondering how you can support me at The Uninterrupted Life, the best way is through a referral. I’d be honored if you could share this with 10 people who you think might be interested in working with me to achieve the life they know they deserve. This newsletter is also sharable on social media, including Facebook and Instagram.
I’m deeply grateful that you are here with me to build this wonderful community from the ground up. The journey is just beginning, and I’m putting one foot in front of the other every day to bring my vision to life.
What are you walking towards?
Until next time, live uninterrupted.
~Coleman