New Year’s Resolution

Every start of the year we always come up with this list of things that we plan on changing in how we go about moving on with our lives. May it be a bad habit we want to break, or a particular vice we want to stop, we would always say to ourselves that this year I am going to make this happen. But does it?

I did a little research and according to Gary Ryan Blair, (author of the book – Everything Counts.) “Life will not go according to plan if you do not have a plan. You see, overcoming indecision, fear and obstacles means you must have a plan. When life doesn't go as planned, it's difficult to work up the motivation needed to follow through.” What makes things worse is that when we lose that motivation, our Filipino Mañana Habit kicks in. We would then say to ourselves, there is always tomorrow to do this.

The New Year’s resolution tradition goes way back to ancient times according to Gary. A King of early Rome named Janus could look back on past events and forward into the New Year. Thus the Romans began the tradition of giving gifts that bore the image of Janus for good fortune for the New Year. Not all cultures have the same tradition, but generally the concept of welcoming the New Year is always there.

The New Year’s resolution does not necessarily have to entail drastic or major changes in your life. We can always start small and work our way up to bigger goals later on. And these may not technically make your life change but probably in the lives of others. Like for example, this year you wish to make a donation every month to a charitable institution, or maybe spend lesser time in tending your crops in Farmville and do something realistically productive.

Whatever our list may be, we have to ensure that we stick to the plan.

Here are some funny New Year’s resolutions;

• I will be more creative. (I will not bore my boss with the same excuse for taking leaves.)
• I will be more productive. (I will no longer waste my time reliving the past and instead I will spend it worrying about the future)
• I will live with simplicity. (I made no resolutions for this New Year’s Day. The habit of making plans and molding my life is too much of a daily event for me.)
• I will improve my hand-eye coordination skills. (I will play more video games)
• I will finish the things I started. (I will finish all unfinished alcoholic beverages that I already opened)