Hey guys,
Finally, I get to say: Happy New year!
It’s been a minute and I guess the year started off on a great note for us all. It’s not like I didn’t want to write, I had this a while ago but didn’t get to publish until now. Well, I guess I was waiting for the right time, lol.
Now that we are in a new year, let me ask: Did you make any resolutions or set goals or targets for the year? Or are you one of those who believe that new year resolutions don’t last, hence no need to make them?
Well, the truth remains that by now a lot of people have either forgotten what they resolved to do (most don’t write it down) or they have lost the flare and energy to keep on doing it.
We all get into a new year with so much joy and excitement that we want to literarily ‘take the world’. But as the days unfold and all the Christmas lights and New year greetings wane, we tend to relax again and start singing our Que será será.
As a result of this, a lot of people have settled into not making any resolutions at all and setting no goals year in, year out.
Today, I’ll be enlightening us on 4 reasons why our New year resolutions barely make it into the second month of the year and how to keep ourselves on track all through the year and not wander about aimlessly.
1. Waiting for a new year to make resolutions.
Why do we all have to wait for the calendar to move from 31st December to 1st January before we start doing what we know we should be doing or we stop doing what we know we shouldn’t be doing?
A change in the calendar will not change your life if you haven’t changed this mindset. Life is not a switch that you can just turn off and on, rather your life is made up of a set of consistent and conscious decisions that culminate into that big dream or goal you have.
So, if you are waiting for a new year to live your best life, you are already at risk of never living it. Start making changes the moment you realise you should. It can be in June, April or August, it doesn’t matter at all. What matters is that you did it anyway.
2. Setting unrealistic goals
In the spirit and excitement of the new year, we set grandiose and lofty goals that have no meaning in real life. E.g. “I will become a better person this year!” What does that mean? How do you intend to achieve it? How do you evaluate your progress?
What you call your new year resolution, is it specific, measurable and realistic?
Also, we assume that we can achieve anything, just anything. That’s what they tell us on social media, in our churches during cross over service and even our well-meaning friends echo it. While this is not a lie, it is only one side of the truth and I’ll like to see it as the beginning of the journey.
I am not against setting big goals but here’s my advice:
Break down your yearly goals into monthly goals
Break down your monthly goals into weekly goals
Break down your weekly goals into daily goals.
This is the only way to stay consistent!
If you wake up every morning having set your mind at achieving something specific, you will achieve more by the end of the year than when you say something vague like “This year I will become a better person” and then wait for the end of the year to start running about.
Besides, God doesn’t just count what you plan to do by the end of the year, He checks what you are doing on a daily basis.
3. Old habits in a new year
Many times we expect the new year to bring us new things while we hold on to our old habits that need to be changed.
When you are setting new goals, you must remember that new goals require a set of new habits and consistent personal development. Old habits that are questionable cripple our journey and keep us in a stationary wheel. We think we are making progress but we are not, we are only moving in circles.
4. New goals lumped together with uncompleted projects
It’s not bad to carry over some goals you didn’t accomplish from last year into the new year. There’s no law that says you must set out to do an entirely new thing just because it’s a new year.
Some of us abandon things we were doing and start new ones instead of consistently building on what we already have despite a change in the calendar. If you keep setting new and bigger goals without accomplishing the old and smaller ones, you will be trapped in a cycle of trying so hard to accomplish so little.
Finally, you cannot accurately plan you life and plot the graph of where you’ll be by the end of the year. You can only live one day at a time with your set target in full focus.
So, Breathe friend, Rest and Simmer down!
Let me shock you before I end this post: this year, there are many things you planned for that will not happen and there are many more you didn’t plan for that will happen, either ways; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and He will direct your paths.
Welcome to 2020!
Cheers!!!
well done ma!
Thanks dear