Declaring Chapter 11

I get daily inspiration from Seth Godin’s blog. Yesterday he wrote about bankruptcy, not in a financial sense, but in a metaphorical sense.

He writes that declaring Chapter 11 doesn’t mean you shut down, but you reorganize and negotiate in a way that allows you to move forward. He goes on to say that we all have the chance to declare bankruptcy when working on a project or considering a habit. Sometimes declaring that it’s time to reorganize is a relief from the pain of trying to make things work.

Seth writes:

“Perhaps it’s time to stop fighting a losing fight and start creating value doing something else instead. Bankruptcy is never fun, but when you give up something that wasn’t getting you where you needed to go, sometimes you discover a future better than you ever expected.”

This is exactly how I feel about The Discipline Project.

I’m tired of fighting a losing fight. I’m done doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result (insanity, don’t they say?). The way I’ve been living is not getting me where I want to go, so it’s time to declare Chapter 11.

My first step in declaring bankruptcy was starting this blog. I’m publicly acknowledging that I’m stuck and I need to throw out the old habits and replace them with new ones. And it’s hard. My successes since January 1st:

• I’m exercising regularly and have lost 7 pounds.
• I’m getting up earlier than my family (most of the time) to write, exercise and plan my day.
• I’m blogging consistently (although I’m striving to write more, comment more, and be more engaged in social media).

Where am I still stuck?

• Eating. Too much. Poor choices.
• Not following through with plans and challenges I’ve blogged about. (Yes, we still need to revisit that “12 Days to Stop Yelling” Challenge.)
• Still yelling.

It’s a relief to declare bankruptcy. I’m freeing myself of the guilt of past “debts” (bad habits). I’m reorganizing and moving forward. It’s very hard to change old habits, but for me, thinking of it as declaring Chapter 11 helps me to see my Discipline Project as a chance to start over with a clean slate.

Tagged as: self-improvement