Do Not Make Your New Year's Resolution
December 31
Before you make a violent reaction to my title, let me start this article with a fictional (but could be a true) story.
January 2, 2020. Troy decided to go to the gym as part of his "New Year's Resolution". To make sure he will be motivated, he visited the nearest gym in the last week of December. He paid in advance for a full year membership.
Troy noted that the gym was only half-full at the time. His plan is to hit the gym before going to work. He woke up at five in the morning and took his time driving towards the gym. It was only a fifteen-minute drive.
To his surprise though, the parking lot of the gym was almost full already. After driving around for almost five minutes, he found a parking space at the farthest corner of the lot.
When he entered the gym, he was shocked to see that it was full, and people were waiting in line for their turn for the equipment.
He approached the front-desk assistant and complained why the gym was so full. The assistant calmly said.
"Oh, it's always like this every January sir. Half of these new members will stop coming on the last week of January or the first week of February.
Then half of the remaining new members will stop sometime in March. Then some may continue coming until June."
Hello wonderful readers! It's the last day of 2021! Most of you are probably busy preparing for the New Year's celebration or writing your New Year's Resolution! If you have not written your resolution yet, don't start before reading this. If you have already started or written your resolution already, stop! Read this first!
Do Not Make Your New Year's Resolution!
Why am I saying this? Why the heck am I stopping you from making your New Year's resolution? Not that I don't want to make any changes in your life. In fact, I would love to see you make a lot of improvements in your life (even if I don't know you). But why am I asking you not to make a New Year's resolution?
First, let's define New Year's Resolution.
What is New Year's Resolution?
According to Collins Dictionary:
"If you make a New Year's resolution, you make a decision at the beginning of a year to start doing something or to stop doing something."
Like Troy in our story, he made a decision to hit the gym in January.
Is that bad?
Not at all.
What's bad is, that the majority of the new members of that gym will soon stop coming as early as the third week of January. (Some maybe earlier.).
This story may be fictional. But if you go to the gym this January and ask the assistant, the story above has a ring of truth in it.
Why? What's wrong?
Most of these people lack one thing.
PERSEVERANCE!
Most of them may have decided to go to the gym as their New Year's resolution. But they don't have a definite plan or goal. (Ok, they lack two things, perseverance, and planning or goal).
So, instead of making just a New Year's resolution, write a definite goal instead. Then based on your definite goal or goals, make some plans on how to achieve your goals.
For example, if you decided to go to the gym to lose some weight, don't just say:
"Starting January, I will go to the gym to lose some weight.
If this is your resolution, then you might go to the gym and jump from one routine to another without a definite plan. You will just end up feeling the pain, without seeing some progress.
Instead, be definite. For example.
"I will go to the gym starting this January so I can lose 2 kilos a month and hit my ideal weight within six months. Then I will maintain that weight and stay fit for the rest of my life."
Now that's definite.
Then you talk with the gym instructor if your target is doable and ask for a program for this purpose. You follow your program and since you have a target for each month, you can easily monitor your target. If you can afford it, hire a personal trainer.
This Concept can be applied to Other Aspects of Your Life.
Guess what, this concept applies to any aspect of your life. If you want to improve your financial status, don't just say you want to earn more money.
As Napoleon Hill wrote in his book "Think and Grow Rich":
1. Be definite about how much money do you want to have.
2. Set a date when you want to have that amount.
3. Decide what you want to give in return to achieve that goal.
4. Make a plan on how you can achieve that goal.
Final Thoughts.
New Year's Resolution is an age-old tradition, in which a person resolves to continue doing good deeds and stop or change the undesirable ones.
We do this every January or the start of the year. However, most people tend to go back to their old ways after a few weeks or months.
For a New Year's resolution to be effective, make it a New Year's Goal instead. And be definitive about it.
Thanks For Reading and Happy New Year!
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Additional reference: Wikipedia
We only wish to have a healthy life throughout the year 🤗