Tips for Broken Resolutions

How are those New Year’s resolutions going? If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably already hit a snag in your plans for the perfect year—and it’s only been one week. But the good news is that there’s still hope in finding success in 2016, and our failures are part of getting there.

Our Failures Are the Beginning, Not the End

In his January 2015 devotional, President Kevin J Worthen spoke on the necessity of failure to achieve success. He said,

Failing is an essential part of the mortal phase of our quest for perfection. We don’t often think of it that way, but that is only because we tend to focus too much on the word perfection and not enough on the word quest. . . . Failure is an inevitable part of the quest. In our quest for perfection, how we respond when we fail will ultimately determine how well we will succeed.

President Worthen then shared how to be more positive when failure occurs. Optimistic people see setbacks as something that goes away quickly and only pertains to a single situation. They also feel that they have the power to change the situation. President Worthen reminded us that God can help us: “He will turn all our failures into successes.”

Our Futures Are Bogged Down When We Focus on the Past

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland shared insight on looking to the future rather than being weighed down by the past in his January 2009 address. Sharing the story of Lot’s wife looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah, Elder Holland said,

As a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.

It is so easy to add recent failure to a storage of failures in our past—believing that we will never overcome repeated failure. As Elder Holland counseled, past failure should provide knowledge but not defeat as we look ahead in faith of eventual change and progress.

Success Comes in Small, Incremental Portions

Often our successes are hard to measure, as Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained in his January 2011 address. Elder Christofferson quoted President Ezra Taft Benson, speaking of the specific goal of being more like Christ:

We must be careful, as we seek to become more and more [Christlike], that we do not become discouraged and lose hope. Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible. The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant, as it were: Alma the Younger, Paul on the road to Damascus, Enos praying far into the night, King Lamoni. Such astonishing examples of the power to change even those steeped in sin give confidence that the Atonement can reach even those deepest in despair.

 But we must be cautious as we discuss these remarkable examples. Though they are real and powerful, they are the exception more than the rule. For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment.

Elder Christofferson explained that the gospel provides us with many opportunities to restart so that we can ask for help for this month, for this week, and for this day to come nearer to God.

This year as we work toward our goals, may we let our failures bring us knowledge, faith, renewal, and eventual success.