homeIn other religions like Christianity, Christians have watch night services in which they prepare for the year ahead by praying and making resolutions. However for some of us, somewhere along the lines we lose focus or we just forget our commitments that we made in anticipation of the year ahead and our resolutions are lost. At some point or another we wonder where they went and what went wrong and why didn’t it go as planned?
A good place to find some of these answers might just be back at the drawing board where the plan was originally created. When making a plan it’s important that we outline our plans and make them as realistic as possible, not that challenging ourselves is not a good thing but try to keep them within your means.
Other important factors why our resolutions don’t always go as planned is due to our strategies of getting them established and the emphasis that we place on them in terms of priority standings. Many of us see the New Year as a new beginning filled with new hopes, new dreams, new opportunities and new possibilities, yet we enter the New Year with our old attitudes, old approach and old perception on life. Albert Einstein defined 'insanity" as repeating the same action and expecting different results each time, and that is exactly what most of us do instead of finding new ways to achieve our goals we rely on the old ways to achieve new results regardless of how many times it has failed us. With this factor most people that have this problem of “insanity” often make the same resolution over and over for years until they give up as the results of their repetitive actions will never change.
You might find that if you change your strategy of achieving your goal or New Year‘s resolution it will be ticked off that list. Another effective way of actually carrying out that resolution is to put expectations behind it so you will be more dedicated to achieving it, for example telling your friends and family about it; studies have shown that once you put something that you plan on doing out there it is more likely that you will achieve it as you will work extra hard for it and you don’t want to disappoint everyone that you have told. This theory provides drive/motivation for your resolutions.
One can also constantly remind themselves of these resolutions by leaving little notes and entries of the around the home or office or even in your purse or wallet, for busy persons on the go that have their cups full most of the time this might work for you and you sometimes need little reminders; it is also a fact that most New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by the end of January. A reason for this might be that we did not make it a priority so it just faded to the back of our lives; we all know how hard it can be to just put something at the top of the list so maybe we should just put it at the top of the list, literally. Yes, I mean make a list and put it at the top, it might not be the first to get checked off but you will see it and remember it enough times to get the job done or constantly add it to your day planner. This is my favorite method of getting things done it might be old fashioned to walk around with a list, but it works.
Making a commitment to personal goals or the reforming of a habit In anticipation of a new year and new beginnings is what sets apart new year’s resolutions from other resolutions and if achieved the results are often advantageous to our lifestyles, so whatever your resolution was don’t let it be one of those resolutions that are derailed within a few weeks as you made it/them based on the reflection of your life and what you wanted to change or accomplish.
By: Shanteeca Reid
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