Happy New
Year! The first post of 2013 came a bit late as I went on a one month trip to
Japan. I have lots of tips to share on the trip, but there will be in another
post. As we herald the New Year, it is also the time we think about the
achievements we have unlocked in the past year and also set new goals for the
next year. I am quite surprised that a lot of my friends do not actually take
time off to think about their new year resolutions, which I will highly
recommend.
Why the need?
1. Focus
With so
many things I am involved in: classes, work, love, family, business, friends,
social causes, etc, it is easy to lose sight of what is really important to
you. Thus it is important to take time and think about what matters you the
most, what do you want to achieve there, and dictates how much of your very
limited time to spend on.
2. Progress
Reaching
your goal can be made much clearer by dividing them into a number of steps or
milestones. Take for example in the study of a language, your mastery can be
defined by passing the different levels of exam. Setting your resolution to
complete your milestones within the year is very much the same logic how
companies progress with deadline on tasks.
In the year
of 2012, as I witnessed how my fitness has clearly deteriorated, I begin to
acknowledge the fast pace as well as the lack of time. Thus I do encourage you
to take an evening off to ponder what you want to accomplish in your life – be
it improving the lives of your loved ones, career advancements or anything- and
make steps to achieve your goal.
Tip #1. Who Matters?
The very
first step is to think about who matters to you. A very good way of visualizing
this is that if you were stuck on an island, think about who are the people you
want to be with you. They are the important people of your life. There are
people who live for themselves. However, I believe that ultimately, people live
for others, they desire, crave and fight for more ultimately to provide a better
life for people around them. Even if the desire is for oneself, they will
ultimately realize that all the wealth and power in the world mean nothing if
they have nobody to share it with. So think about who matters in your life,
what you want to achieve for her and think about the ways to get there.
Tip #2 Ask “What?” and break down your goals into actionable steps
Suppose
your goal is to provide a better life for your parents. Now, the general idea
is to describe the goals as detailed as possible, so you are able to grasp the
steps to the goal. For example, a better life for my parents would be
fulfilling their physical needs. So ask what are their physical needs? It could
be a massage chair, a bigger house, and seeing the world. Now think about ways
to attain them and assess their difficulty. Buying a massage chair is easier
compared to buying a bigger house, while seeing the world can be broken down
into taking them on a trip once a year. With that, your goals are broken down
into actionable steps and easier to attain rather than a general statement of
“provide a better life”
Tip #3 Review regularly your resolution
At the
regular intervals of the year, take time to review how much have you progressed
according to your plan. When I first started with my new year resolutions, I
only recalled them at the end of the year, and only to realize by then I was so
distracted with other stuff and failed to achieve them. Thus it is important to
steer your plans back to what matters to you, and achieve them!
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