“I’ve been trying to survive
The glow that sun gets
Right around sunset helps me to realize
This is just a journey
Drop your worries
You are gonna turn out fine”
“Keep Your Head Up” - Andy Grammer

It’s a rarity in the sports and entertainment businesses to find someone who has tremendous success but doesn’t start that path in their teen years, or at least in their early 20s. Andy Grammer is exactly that type of success story. Grammer had been singing on the side for years before being “discovered” in 2009. He released his self-titled debut album in 2011 at age 28. “Keep Your Head Up” was one of the two singles that would chart from that first record.

The positive message of the song had it a hit before the album was even released, as “Keep Your Head Up” was released as a single ahead of the album release, and Grammer found himself performing the upbeat tune on morning television shows like “Good Morning, America” and on variety shows like “The Rachael Ray Show.”

Because of the pre-release buzz, the song debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 94. The song reached platinum level, indicating sales of over one million downloads, within four months of its release. The song would peak at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it had a long run on the charts, allowing it to rank as the No. 14 “pop” song of 2011, according to Billboard.

The video for the song is a great depiction of Grammer strolling through the city and running into unfortunate situations, but in each moment, he smiles and sings his way through.

For many, the start of a new year is a chance to re-focus and re-energize on a new set of goals - usually referred to as resolutions - as the calendar changes. Anyone who has ever worked in a fitness center will tell you how busy the first week of January is...and how it quickly settles back to previous attendance levels within a week or two.

Those who drop off often end up in the same boat as many of those who lament the new year, struggling to see a reason to make a big change because it’s hard to see the change truly coming that is desired.

So how can we stay on the right track in our New Year goals, or if we’re struggling to allow ourselves to dream, how can we open ourselves up to the possibility of success?

One word seems to fit both - hope.

Take the desire to become healthier, a common resolution - and an all-too-often short-lived attempt. It’s important to take a look at the “why” behind you wanting to change your eating and exercise habits.

It could be longevity-related - I want to be able to walk my daughter down the aisle; it could be life- and/or work-related - I could contribute much more in the household or be more productive at work if I were not sick as much or I were able to be more active around the home or office; or it could be more personal vanity-related - I want to fit back into the jeans I was wearing at a certain age.

Whatever the “why” is, that’s great! However, it should be two things - yours and hope-based.

First, any goal that has any chance of success needs to be a reason that you come up with, not something a doctor told you that you should do (though thank you to the patient doctors who do continue to encourage toward healthy lifestyle despite the message often being ignored!), something a spouse or co-worker told you that would help or something you read in a magazine, a blog or even in a newspaper!

It has to be internal to you. Without that intrinsic motivation, the first struggle along the way will have you looking for the first exit ramp you can find on your improvement highway.

The second main thing is that it has to be hope-based. Tying back to earlier, having hope in the final outcome of your goal is the key to opening up to dreaming and continuing forward on our journey.

If your goal is to increase your exercise in the new year, and it’s now Saturday, and you haven’t seen the inside of a gym, let alone laced up those brand-new $200 jogging shoes that you purchased for your goal - welcome to the club! The old adage is that the best day to start a health-related goal was yesterday. The next best day is today.

Pastor Tim Doremus shared recently that his wife once told him that she wanted to become a runner. He recalled that a common phrase she used about running before that declaration was, “if you see me running, keep up, because there’s something chasing me!”

He said that she got up the first day and was only gone a matter of 10-15 minutes before she returned. The next day, she was walking like she’d ridden a horse a few hundred miles the day before - but she laced up her shoes and headed out again.

She now has her own running groups in Wichita, where they’re from, and she encourages all levels to come out, stating, “The first step is the hardest, but you keep taking that first step each day, and the other steps get easier.”

There are going to be tough days in any goal, but if you have hope that the long-term change will be affected by each day’s small progress, it becomes much easier to take that first step.

My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 40:31. The translation of the original Hebrew text allows for a few different phrases within the verse, but I’ve come to really enjoy the New International Version (NIV) translation. The NIV reading of that verse is, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”

That hope not only renews and refreshes us when we are down, but it calls us to action, the next step.

There are plenty of great podcasts and blogs on how to go about setting excellent, achievable goals, but you have to start with the hope to keep them moving forward.

Where do you draw your hope from to push your New Year’s ambitions?