Things To Consider Before the New Year


No matter how disappointed you tend to feel regarding all you had set out to achieve at the beginning of the year, but for some reason just did not happen, stop beating yourself up. Stop blaming the universe for your portion. Stop crying over spilt milk. Actually, it's high time you picked a mop and decide to dry up the floor with the moping stick and rid it of the wasted "milk". Stop dwelling on the mechanism with which the "event" happened and simply move on.
At least try and give yourself some degree of credit for the things you did achieve, even if it is not much. Peradventure you had list of things you really wanted to achieve, but only sixty percent of that happened. Hey, celebrate! You are no longer who you used to be. You are 365 plus days wiser in experience, both on how things should be done, as well as how they are not supposed to be done.You have another opportunity in the coming New year to re-focus, re-analyze, re-strategize, and attain all your heart truly desires. Come up with a new, realistic and feasible plan. You cannot continue to choose to do things the same way and expect a different result. Albert Einstein defined that as the definition of madness. As a matter of fact, I advice you to ditch New year resolutions because those are only as good as 2 weeks and for some pretty determined people, maybe a month.

I implore you to move away from this quite deceptive concept of  waiting to make "New year resolutions" before trying to make necessary changes, or make better choices. 
I have tried those in the past and I can tell you from experience that they do not last very long. Start making necessary changes now. 

Below are some important things to consider as you head for another brand New year. 

Write down a list of things you want to achieve.
Create a vivid list of goals you want to see come to pass in your life. Write them down for two reasons - as a reference and as a yardstick to measure how much you have achieved. There is something beyond fulfilling as you tick something off your annual "To-do" list.

Have a Vision Board.
 I created one for the very first time this year and it was good. Being a very visual learner, it was great and just perfect for me. You can do the same. When you see it, it reminds you of your "why" as well as your dream target. Thereby infusing in you the energy to pursue  and eventually achieve.



Take your health seriously.
I cannot emphasize this enough. I work in the hospital, so believe me that I know what I am saying when I say it is high time you took your health seriously. Schedule your annual physical visit. Don't skip or ignore screening visits. Those may save your life. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Incorporate these deliberately into your diet. Have a plan for working out. Be it in the comfort of your home or at the gym. Pay the subscription and purpose to go in January, February, March, still going strong in April, not absconded in May, or totally lost to follow up by December! Don't be that guy or lady.

Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be a better version of yourself. 
Not people who feel they are in competition with you. Not people who pull you down in words and in their actions. Surround yourself with driven, high achieving, goal-oriented people who have a true purpose in life and are passionately pursuing them.

Have a mentor. Choose wisely. Have a role model in whom you have found attributes you admire and hope to attain someday.

Read more. By now, I am sure you do not need a prophet to tell you that readers are leaders. That reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Exercise you mind, your brain. Your brain is made up of about 86 billion neurons. Reading improves the connectivity of these neurons which improves people's memories, increase your brain power. If last year you read only five books because of your hectic busy life, in the coming year, plan to read at least ten.



Have Dreams that leave you scared.
If your dreams don't give you palpitations or make a chill go down your spine when you think about it, then it is not big enough. You need to dream bigger.

Be ready for battle.
To shut down negative voices that tell you that you are not good enough, or that you are very stupid for having such huge dreams. To confront and deal with people who try to speak negativity into your life. You have to make up your mind that things will not be "business as usual".

Shut out the distractions.
Know when you have had enough of social media. Know when to shut your phone off. FOMO(which according to evolutionary biology is an omnipresent anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently  be happening elsewhere) would not kill you! Think about it for a second, people survived the stone age. You will do just fine.



Schedule a retreat. 
Plan to have a set time for a couple of days or a weekend to re-discover yourself, to re-define the direction of your life. It is so easy to get "lost" in the mundane of routine everyday life in the fast lane. To seek the face of your maker. This is different from vacation or you can have a fusion of both. Just find what works for you and make it happen.



Purpose to be a happier person.
One thing I realized is that nobody else is responsible for your happiness in life. Not your mom, your spouse or best friend despite their best intentions. You are to custodian of your own happiness. You are the minister for happiness for your own life! You might not have control over the things that happen around you or what people do to you, but you have the absolute power to control your response. Choose to be happy in the days to come.



I wish you all a Happy New Year ahead. May all your dreams - wild and gargantuan come true.

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” —Oprah Winfrey

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