There are certain days on the calendar that come with instructions.
New Year’s Day tells us to start fresh. Birthdays tell us to celebrate another year. Anniversaries tell us to remember.
Add our Upwards Favorites:
- Celebration Day
- ReFLEXion Power Day
- UnReluctant Day
- Maximum Momentum Day
- Intentional Evolution Day
August 20 now has a different job.
It is Halfway Day.
Halfway to what?
That’s entirely up to you.
And that is precisely what makes Halfway Day so useful.
You don’t need another person telling you to set goals, establish deadlines, make a five-year plan, create a vision board, or write down your objectives. There is plenty of that advice available, and much of it is perfectly good.
But advice doesn’t necessarily produce action.
A question might.
What are you halfway toward?
Maybe you are halfway toward finishing a book – either reading or writing. Both, as you know, can be arduous.
Halfway toward changing careers.
Halfway toward getting your finances where you want them.
Halfway toward becoming better at something that matters to you.
Halfway toward repairing a relationship.
Halfway toward launching an idea.
Halfway toward becoming more confident, capable, independent, expressive, disciplined, adventurous, or free.
Maybe you aren’t literally 50 percent there.
Estimates – though often frowned upon – are accepted without question on Halfway Dsy.
Halfway Day isn’t an accounting exercise.
It is a ReFLEXion point.
It asks you to look backward just long enough to determine where you are—and then turn around and look forward.
The Important Question Isn’t Where You Started
We spend a lot of time celebrating beginnings.
We also celebrate finishes.
But there is an enormous stretch of life between the two.
That’s where Halfway Day lives.
The middle is where enthusiasm can fade. It is where intentions encounter inconvenience. It is where something that seemed exciting at the beginning becomes work. And it is where people quietly abandon things without ever formally deciding to quit.
Halfway Day interrupts that.
It asks:
Do I still want this?
If the answer is no, perhaps it is time to choose another destination. There is no virtue in continuing toward somewhere you no longer want to go.
But if the answer is yes, the next questions become considerably more interesting.
What does the second half require?
Do you need to change your behavior?
Do you need to change your pace?
Do you need to recommit?
Do you need help?
Do you need to stop doing something that is interfering with what you say you want?
Do you need to make a decision you’ve been postponing?
Or perhaps most importantly:
Do you need to reestablish momentum?
Halfway Changes the Psychology
There is a big difference between saying, “Someday I’d like to accomplish this,” and saying:
“I’m halfway there.”
The first describes a wish.
The second describes a journey already underway.
You have covered ground.
You have invested something.
You have learned something.
And whatever distance remains is no longer the entire distance.
That SO matters.
Halfway Day allows us to stop staring at the summit from the parking lot and recognize that we are already somewhere on the mountain.
Now we need to decide what happens next.
Declare Your Halfway
So on August 15, don’t make another generic list of goals.
Pick something that matters.
Then finish this sentence:
I am halfway toward ____________________.
Now ask yourself:
What must I do differently during the second half than I did during the first?
That question may reveal that you’re doing beautifully and simply need to continue.
It may reveal that your pace needs to increase.
It may reveal that you’ve wandered off course.
It may reveal that you’ve been waiting for motivation when what you really need is action.
Or it may reveal something wonderful:
You’re much closer than you’ve been giving yourself credit for.
That’s Halfway Day.
Not another deadline.
Not another resolution.
Not another lecture about goals.
It is a day to locate yourself between Here and There.
Choose your There.
Acknowledge how far you’ve come.
Determine what the remaining distance requires.
Then get going.
Or, keep going.
Because the best thing about being halfway there is simple:
You don’t have to start from the beginning.
Aspire.
Be flexible.
Come Upwards with Us™
