It’s a new year, and everyone is filled with new hopes of good times ahead. Practically speaking, it’s just another day in our lives, but the rollover to a new calendar year certainly makes everyone feel like it’s a new beginning, one that rejuvenates our spirits and makes our mood so light. As we begin the new year, our mind tends to set aside the not-so-pleasant memories of an year gone by, take along with it the good ones, and look forward to a fresh start to try and do things better this time.

Filled with overwhelming emotion, just like the beginning of every other New Year, we start by setting some resolutions for ourselves. We really want to make that difference in our life, and the New Year’s atmosphere very easily motivates us into taking that first step, which is “Thinking” – thinking of some resolutions, and possibly some very fancy ones too.

Where are your resolutions?

Well, do you remember what resolutions you thought for yourself last year? How about the year before that? Further, how about the years prior to that? It is most likely that you would not remember resolutions made a couple of years ago, unless you had written them down so that they can now be referred to. Wouldn’t you have felt good to now be able to see the objectives that you have been setting for yourself over the years? Wouldn’t it have been useful to see how your life and priorities have changed over the years? And wouldn’t it be good to have those resolutions at hand so that you can really see for yourself how far you have been successful in satisfying your resolutions? Well, all these advantages and more would have been yours only if you had been writing your resolutions. So what are you waiting for? Why are you not writing then down? Well, it is very easy to just think of some resolutions and to state them to oneself verbally. However, it needs much more than just a pen and a paper to be able to put those into writing! It requires great strength of character to put those resolutions on paper, knowing that you would then not be able to coax yourself into forgetting the resolutions and slipping them away as the year unfolds, because you would then have them clearly laid out to remind yourself of them every now and then. If you really want to help yourself, and if you really want to do justice to those resolutions, respect them and write them down now!

How about your plan of action?

Many of us, even those who write their resolutions down, mostly focus on hoping to do things better this year. Well, that’s a good thing to do, but it is even more important to make a solid plan of action, which is going to set those hopes in motion and on the road to accomplishment. A plan helps in big ways. Mainly, it helps us clarify our own thoughts and know what it is that we really want to do with our time. Further, it gives us a direction and a reference for us to be able to steer ourselves in case we go astray from the path we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. And then, at the end of the year, it gives us a basis for comparison to see how much progress we have made and how much we have accomplished versus the plan. And last but not the least; it gives us a reason to celebrate, at the end of the year, for having accomplished all or at least a significant amount of what we had set out to achieve. So, once you have your resolutions written down, for each of your resolutions, write down a plan of action – reasonable milestones that you think you should be able to achieve as the year progresses. This plan is going to be your baseline, and will help you and guide you throughout the year.

Would you dare to share?

Once you have the resolutions written down, and have laid out a plan of action for each of the resolutions, you have done half of the job. But there’s one more thing you would need – a little bit of pushing, here and there, when the motivation level would go down along the way. And for this, I would strongly suggest that you share your plan of action with a close friend, someone you can trust it with and help you track your progress and give you a slight push as and when needed. It requires all the more courage to do this, because not many are comfortable with sharing their resolutions with someone. The main reason for that is the fear of failure to abide by them, and the second reason is to be able to excuse oneself and discard the resolution along the way due to reasons that would really not be convincing enough if someone other than yourself were to see you doing that. But what is the point of making resolutions in the first place if you are going to give yourself the option to get rid of them for no convincing reason? And if you do have a convincing reason, then it wouldn’t be difficult for the other person to see why exactly you had to change focus to elsewhere. And if at all you are going to fail in abiding by any of your resolutions, then there should not be any fear of the other person seeing that if there indeed was a good reason why it wasn’t possible to take it to completion. Sharing your resolutions with your friend(s) would give you very strong support and motivation to move on especially in times when you start losing focus as the year unfolds.

Wishing you a fruitful year ahead

Years come and years go by, and at the beginning of each New Year, we all make our resolutions, big and small. And as the year unfolds and we get engrossed in the same old routine that we have been habitually accustomed to, we tend to lose sight of the our resolutions, only to find out that we did not accomplish much of what we wanted to do in yet another year that’s just gone by. As we begin the New Year, let us resolve to commit ourselves to abide by our resolutions. Let’s write them down, then make a plan of action, and most importantly, share them with a trustworthy friend. I wish you all much grace and strength of character to be able to stick to your commitments and accomplish all your resolutions. Come the end of this year, may you be able to look back upon this year and feel proud of your accomplishments, and especially, proud that you paid due respect to your resolutions.