It is hard to believe that there has already been a full week of 2018. As mentioned in last week’s entry, this is the time of year that people make new goals for themselves. Many people want to lose weight, read more, be more organized, etc. but less than half of the people that set these goals, actually accomplish them. So what is the secret? Why can’t people seem to be able to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves? At the beginning of each year, you recognize what you have done wrong or could have done better the year before, so you want to be able to have a fresh start and completely change then and there, when that is not how things work. In order to change something you feel needs to be changed, you need to start slow and work your way up. Simply saying, “from now on I am going to be completely organized and my house will never get messy again,” just isn’t going to work. Instead, try saying “I am going to make sure I stay organized these next few days.” Once that is accomplished, you can move onto a week, a couple of weeks, a month, and before you know it, you are more organized in 2018 than you were in 2017. However, it is also important to recognize that you will not be one-hundred percent perfect in keeping your goals. There may be a day every once in a while that you just can’t keep up and things get a little more unorganized than you wanted, and that’s ok.

This same principle applies when trying to restore liberty. You cannot just say that you will have liberty restored by the end of the year, or even within your lifetime because that just might not happen. You need to begin by trying to read daily, learn the principles, be more virtuous, and teach others, because liberty cannot be restored any other way. Also, you’ll need to recognize that it is ok that you aren’t perfect, and it’s ok that you mess up, because we all do, just making that effort to restore what has been lost is an amazing accomplishment. I encourage you to make personal virtue a goal in your life, and help others to do the same.