Every January 1st, all of us are either prepared to see “New Year, New Me” posts or we find ourselves fallen into that trap again. We keep telling ourselves, this is it, this is MY year of success, good health and happiness.
Movies such as “The pursuit of happyness” or “Southpaw” make many of us get off our couch and take notice of where we are heading. We suddenly become aware of the fact that it’s not enough and make a plan to climb that ladder.
If not resolutions and movies, it could be speeches, success stories, songs, self help books etc.
Now, I am not saying that these are wrong directions to look for motivation, but it’s also a fact that only 8% of the people achieve their goals. No successful person ever went to a talk show and said it only took me a decision, a book and half a year to be where I am today. So, all these sources of our motivation are maybe meant to act only as a catalyst rather than a revelation. Because after sometime, we begin to realize that the ladder was made of unrealistic goals and too many expectations all at once. The idea of beginning a goal on a sudden specific day makes matters even worse. What people don’t realize is that decision was made while they were sitting on the bed comfortably under air conditioner imagining themselves slog in the distant future. And if we have learnt anything from history, it’s that it repeats itself. We may say it’s going to be different this time, but for many it soon converts into regret. Which also means, there are more chances of a person on a diet going back to eating cakes again than going to the gym regularly until the end of the year.
Now where am I heading with such a depressing tone? You are probably thinking, reading this is already a regret. But wait, if you can relate to whatever I have said above, you can go ahead and ask if all this doesn’t work, what will?
Firstly, while writing what the goal is, mention why and the most important, how to go about it. We must avoid creating a long list of impractical decisions. We shouldn’t try to fix each one of our flaws all at once. Rather, embrace them and pick one to begin with. If you succeed in reaching that one goal, it might as well give you the inspiration to complete all of them, knowing that you finished one in time. Yes, it will take more time and patience but eventually give you better results than Fix-All-At-Once strategy. It’s also important to celebrate the smallest change, for that rewarding feeling. Commitment+Consistency are keys!
So here are some pointers if you want to begin today or have been chasing that finishing line:
- It’s not tomorrow, get to work today — What I mean is you don’t have to work exactly on that goal, try to sketch a plan using a paper and a pen today.
- Be detail oriented — See it, feel it, visualize the end results and everything required in between to get there.
- Keep it simple — Break the big goal into smaller milestones and accomplish in a timely manner.
- Get help when needed — Ask your friends to encourage and remind you the reason why you started when you begin to feel low.
- Work on what you can and stop worrying about what you can’t control — There’s no point dwelling into things that are not under your control, so why worry about it?
- Stick to the plan but have a Plan B ready — Anything could distract you before you realize it’s too late, so have a back up plan ready if you can’t keep up to the original plan.
- Never ever, ever, ever,ever,ever give up — Keep that head and self esteem high and say a firm ‘NO’ to negative vibes.
You may get discouraged if you fail the first time but don’t be afraid of it, be afraid of failing to try one more time!
Shall we begin?
I would love to have feedback on my first post to keep improving and writing better content.
Thanks!
Originally published at medium.com