I used to be fairly disappointed with most of my New Year “resolutions”, when in college.
“I will score a GPA of 9 this year”; “I will play in a band”; “I will score 15 goals in this year’s tournament”; “I will become a Quora Top Writer” – the list is endless.
I don’t know how the tradition of New Years’ resolutions got ingrained into our society. I guess it dates back to Babylon when people believed that what you do on the first day of the year determines how the entire year goes.
However, there might be some merit to it psychologically. The beginning of the new year creates a fresh mind-set, an opportunity to start afresh, and it may seem like the perfect time to let go of what could have been and focus on what can be done.
I loved the beginning of the year.
While rest of the year, had feelings of dread and drudgery, January is usually filled with unmatched optimism. People are usually more hopeful at the beginning of the year than later.
There is something refreshing about having unblemished days ahead of us. The new year is a promise that our life can be better.
Resolutions play a key role in setting the tone for the new year.
Unfortunately, more than half of the people who make resolutions don’t make it past the first month.
A lot of times, these resolutions fail as they are either too vague, unrealistic, or maybe it’s because it’s something that someone else has set for us. Or maybe they focus too much on the output and not really on how much you are supposed to put the work in.
In recent years, I realized I was getting disappointed because I was entirely output-oriented. I was only focusing on the end result, and when I would feel pressured and not see the end result happening – I would give up. It’s so difficult to achieve a gigantic annual goal, and a lot of things could go wrong.
The mind is a funny thing, and that also allows you to take it to your advantage, which I did. Instead of being output-oriented, I became input-oriented. Instead of being focused on nouns (Top Writer) I became focused on verbs (write every weekend).
“I will study for 2 hours everyday”; “I will play the guitar twice a week”; “I will wake up every morning and run”; “I will write every weekend” – the change was dramatic.
I realised that breaking down the resolutions into smaller, manageable tasks motivated me to stick to the resolutions. It wasn’t a far off goal – it was something I could do in the immediate future.
How do you become a better version of yourself?
Identify your areas of improvement, identify the end outcome and convert it to actions that you can do regularly.
Over the years, there were times in the middle of the year that I would have realisations about what I want to achieve and what I need to do to achieve it.
Initially, I would wait for the new year to act on it. But by the time the new year approached, I would have forgotten all about it or lost the zeal to implement it.
To cope with the loss of a loved one, Einstein once said, “Time is an Illusion.”
I think about this time and again in context to making new year resolutions. Guaranteed that the start of a new year provides the psychological motivation to become a better version of ourselves, but there’s merit in making input-oriented resolutions all throughout the year.
Who said we can decide to be the best person we can be only on January 1st?
Time is a man-made construct. While it helps in navigating our day-to-day lives, it shouldn’t be the reason to hold us back. It’s a tool to help us be the best version of ourselves and it needn’t happen only in the first month of the year.
Making resolutions year-round ensures that I don’t think about being the person I want to be just once in a year.
After all, it’s a life-long continuous process. And you can start from scratch any time of the year. There’s no point in going in loops over it until the end of the year.
While most new year’s resolutions fail, it’s still a healthy habit to keep. At the end of the day, the ones who make the resolutions are far more aware of the things they need to work on than the ones who don’t.
If you have the resolve to be better, then you need to make smarter, measurable goals and resolutions and you will definitely become a better person, and that’s what life is about.
Here’s wishing everyone a great end of year, and a fantastic 2022.