Around this time of year is when most reach an understanding of just how committed they are to their New Year’s resolutions. You are either just getting in the groove of your new routine, or you’re learning that maybe this just isn’t the right year to follow through.
However you identify yourself in the goal-reaching process, I know it’s a struggle. You’ve felt it, I’ve felt it.
I stopped to buy coffee at Bryn and Dane’s last week on my way to work. If you haven’t been there, you should definitely check it out if you are in the Philadelphia area. They have somehow made fast food healthy AND delicious, so naturally, I am a huge fan. While I waited for my coffee (draft cold-brew iced coffee), I looked around at the hanging plants, bright windows, and numerous wall decorations. After a moment, some words written on the wall caught my attention.
The wall reads: “We make it as easy as possible for you to be healthy. Starting in Horsham, we created the first healthy fast-food experience the world has ever seen, and we aren’t going to stop growing until you see a B & D in every town across America. Join the fast food revolution. Eat at B & D.”
What better way to commit to their goals than plastering them up on the wall for every person who walks through that door to see? Well, they have certainly shown their commitment. Since 2008 when their business was merely a dream, they now have four locations: Horsham, Ambler, Plymouth Meeting, and Bryn Mawr. Their website homepage also hints to an additional location popping up in Malvern this year.
Bryn and Dane’s is a perfect example of how to set goals and accomplish them. I can bet that the last ten years have not been so easy, but their passion and drive have brought them to where they are today.
As I reflected on their statement on the wall, I thought about the common factor of every goal I have accomplished: I made the announcement. I wrote them down, I spoke them aloud; I shared my goal with others. Going to college, renting an apartment, working a full-time job, going to grad school, losing weight, gaining weight…every single one of my accomplished goals are those in which I announced. Every time that I did, the goal felt more real and I felt more committed to it. If I said it aloud, I now had expectations to live up to–and not just for others, but for myself. I plastered my goal on my metaphorical wall, and lived up to every single one of them.
Can you guess the common factor of all of the goals I have never accomplished? The answer: I have kept them to myself. The little voice in my head whispers my wishful goals quietly and softly. So quiet, I can barely hear it.
As we enter into February, think about what you really want out of 2018. What goals are you going to continue to strive for? What goals are you going to commit to? How will you accomplish them? This is your chance to say it aloud. Put it in writing. Make it real.
My goal this year is to write the first draft of my first novel. I plan on signing up for a writer’s conference in Philadelphia being held towards the end of the year to stay motivated and have something to look forward to in my writing journey. So far, I am a couple chapters in with many unwritten ideas that I am very excited about exploring.
Okay, it’s your turn.
Rebecca DiFabbio 
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