Out with the old, in with the new. That pretty much sums up New Year’s resolutions. Why exactly do humans make plans to dissociate away from their old selves during momentous occasions? Indeed, it is a subject of interest considering the periodical nature in which it happens.
It all comes down to how the human psyche is wired. It’s what sets us apart from the rest. We are able to plan how we intend to live our lives despite all the things that may come in between to deter us from our goals. Making plans is all well and good, but we should make the plans well aware that even the most well laid and elaborate plans have often a tendency to go south.
The trick is to stay committed and focused with the same vigor to achieve our resolutions year-end. Meeting targets at our homes and workplaces does require a bit of mental turgidity in order to keep pulling. We list out a couple of ways we can effectively plan our days and watch them pan out as perfectly as we envisioned them to be.
There is No Time Like the Present
Taking the present for granted and always keeping our minds at the future, is a recipe for disaster
Many philosophers have graced our planet and all seem to have alluded to a similar viewpoint of things. All we have in this life is the present. There’s much to be achieved by embracing the present and seizing the day. To achieve monumental success, it all depends on what we decide to do with the opportunities availed to us. There’s a reason why the present is called so, it’s the gift that keeps on giving! By setting dates to when we would like to start doing something is really just us setting ourselves up for failure.
Want to lose weight? How about we start going to the gym? Want to see the world? Well, start saving ASAP! It’s the little things that count. Making grandiose plans is only the first step. To really see our aspirations come to fruition, it takes a high level of determination.
Stop Thinking of New Year Resolutions in those Terms
A strong determination is key when trying to stick to the main plan despite the many temptations that may surround us
What terms? Well, as concrete, far-fetched ideas. Instead, the trick is in thinking of our resolutions as plans. To get started with them, living in the moment sure does help a lot. However, it requires a new tact of approach. To achieve far-reaching targets, we should segment our work into portions we can take on easily.
Let’s say we would like to run the London Marathon by the time April arrives. Wouldn’t it be easier to start small by taking place in a semi-marathon before the big showpiece event? It definitely would make much more sense since one can have a taste of how the heats would go like. By exposing ourselves to a dose of something, we get to prepare ourselves mentally, physically and psychologically to get going.
Embrace the If-Then-Else Language
Having a back up plan in case the first ones fails, is a great idea
Programmers are well versed with the ‘if-then-else’ phrase. They oft use it to create loops and sequences in their lines of code. Such structures ensure that they always have absolute control of whatever result emerges from their computational analysis.
To apply this in our daily lives, we can use the phrase in how we plan our daily activities. Let’s say we intend to run first thing in the morning on a Saturday before hitting the showers. An effective way to put the phrase to use would be to say, “If I wake up on Saturday, the first thing I’ll do is take a jog down the street, then take a shower as soon as I get back”. To properly punctuate the statement, we can add in an ‘else’ statement as a way to mitigate the unlikely situation that we fail to wake up on time or go for the jog.
By making such statements, we ensure that we always have a plan of how everything will pan out, irrespective of the result. Having a sense of control is bound to harbor habitual tendencies. When we make such activities that seem mundane a habit we get to achieve our resolutions without much ado.
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