Unlike most people, who begin the new year with a set of resolutions and hangover, since the past two years I have been beginning with loosely defined goals. Resolutions are a good tool for motivation but I have realised that they are prone to abandonment, or aberrations at least, owing to lack of substance. Moreover, any time is a good time to undertake a fruitful resolve, waiting for the new year only wastes time.
Once upon a time, I had gained a lot of weight. Despite the regular workouts, I was unable to lose any. Hence, I was sure that my eating habits were at fault. At that point, I realised that I needed to overcome my sedentary lifestyle and quit eating many unhealthy things. Though it was already November, I decided to implement it immediately. Since then I have quit eating Sugar, along with many other items, and it also made me realise that quitting is important. And the lessons that I have learned from quitting are applicable not only to personal affairs but also to businesses matters.
Another challenge with resolution is their contagious nature. Since most people undertake resolutions in herds, and not even in a sober state, they are directed towards social currency. And this introduces a probability to make it irrelevant towards personal goals. For instance, my goal is to learn Data Science and if I simultaneously undertake the resolution to run a marathon, where on earth will I find the extra hours and energy to achieve both! With such an example, I can highlight the irrelevance as well as the inherit contradiction with resolutions, as we all possess limited time, energy and resources.
This contagious nature also means that most resolutions are limited to the popular subjects such as diet regime, regular workouts, monthly savings and so on. Click to visit statistics on Statista, although you might already know that resolutions are quite common. And such a collective nature of this undertaking opens up revenue opportunities for many businesses, especially those in health and fitness industry. Many pay for an annual gym membership and never make it beyond a few weeks, as maintaining perseverance is difficult, especially when you pay to sweat. Hence, if new year resolution were a first semester subject, I am pretty sure that the percentage of students graduating would have been dramatically reduced!
Motivation requires a push but as soon as the momentum from that push starts to fade, which happens after a few weeks by mid-March, the new year resolution goes for a toss. All the social currency, along with copious amounts of ethanol in the bloodstream, that had earlier served as motivation now lose relevance. And this is when you realise that you require perseverance to stay on track with your resolution.
Still that is not the final answer. Perseverance requires fuel, as you will also have a fair share of bad and gloomy days that will challenge your willingness to persevere. And you might be curious as to what fuels this kind of perseverance, the answer is purpose. It is your sense of purpose that emanates from the desire to achieve something bigger. But unless your resolution fits into your greater goals or aligns with your long term vision, such purpose may be impossible to achieve.
Hope that this enables you make wiser resolution this year but more importantly, keeps you hooked until it yields your desired outcome.
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Feature Image Photo by Danil Aksenov on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 