Is it still a new year? It must depend on who is answering. To a Manchester United fan, for instance, what is new about a year where they have already lost twice at the once dreaded Theatre of Dreams? And what is new about the year to those who spent all their salaries on the Christmas and new year celebrations? We are back to where we were, back to work, back to school, back to being jobless and, for some who made resolutions on new year’s day, back to the pre-resolution acts. It is funny, isn’t it? The more things seem to change, the more we don’t seem to recognize the change.
I have a personal code for dealing with life, people, new years and all that. I break the whole into parts, decide what I want out of the whole, and then deal with the parts according to the whole plan. Is that confusing? It should not be. Take the year as the whole, that whole has parts, that is days, weeks, months, quarters, and half-years. It is fine to have yearly plans and to write yearly goals, it is even better to decide when these goals are expected to be realized, but the best bet when it comes to achieving yearly goals is to check on the plan daily. It is almost impossible to fail on a goal you do something about daily than it is about a goal you just expect to achieve during the year without breaking into parts.
I don’t do new year resolutions. That is not to say those who do are doing anything wrong. Let us reason together: if a resolution is about fixing what is bad or making a good thing better, when is the best time to do that? I’d think the best time to fix what is bad is the time one discovers it. So, if I discover a better way to answer questions posed by journalists because of a media gaffe say in June of a particular year, would it be better to learn from the lessons right away and apply the lessons learned immediately or would it be right to wait till the end of the year before deciding to input the lessons into my lifestyle? I think we over-rate January 1st. Please don’t get me wrong. It is always, and will always be, a great feeling to see a new year even though these new years were decided by fellow men at a time in history. What we must never lose sight of is the essence of each day.
Men decided when to start the year, they decided what months were best to end the year and what months to have 30 and 31 days and 28 or 29 days, but no man decided the birth of each day. It is the most natural of time’s parts. It is the single most important factor on the calendar. The most successful men and women are those who respect and understand the essence of a new day. If you must do anything about your year, you must remember these things.
Whatever needs to be changed or fixed must be fixed as soon as the need is discovered. Each new day and the feeling that comes from seeing it should be as important, if not more important, as that that comes from each new year. If you make the hours of each day count as much as possible, you need not even bother about the year. As the day is the building block of the year, so are your daily successes the building blocks of your yearly goals. Make the day count!
I have a personal code for dealing with life, people, new years and all that. I break the whole into parts, decide what I want out of the whole, and then deal with the parts according to the whole plan. Is that confusing? It should not be. Take the year as the whole, that whole has parts, that is days, weeks, months, quarters, and half-years. It is fine to have yearly plans and to write yearly goals, it is even better to decide when these goals are expected to be realized, but the best bet when it comes to achieving yearly goals is to check on the plan daily. It is almost impossible to fail on a goal you do something about daily than it is about a goal you just expect to achieve during the year without breaking into parts.
I don’t do new year resolutions. That is not to say those who do are doing anything wrong. Let us reason together: if a resolution is about fixing what is bad or making a good thing better, when is the best time to do that? I’d think the best time to fix what is bad is the time one discovers it. So, if I discover a better way to answer questions posed by journalists because of a media gaffe say in June of a particular year, would it be better to learn from the lessons right away and apply the lessons learned immediately or would it be right to wait till the end of the year before deciding to input the lessons into my lifestyle? I think we over-rate January 1st. Please don’t get me wrong. It is always, and will always be, a great feeling to see a new year even though these new years were decided by fellow men at a time in history. What we must never lose sight of is the essence of each day.
Men decided when to start the year, they decided what months were best to end the year and what months to have 30 and 31 days and 28 or 29 days, but no man decided the birth of each day. It is the most natural of time’s parts. It is the single most important factor on the calendar. The most successful men and women are those who respect and understand the essence of a new day. If you must do anything about your year, you must remember these things.
Whatever needs to be changed or fixed must be fixed as soon as the need is discovered. Each new day and the feeling that comes from seeing it should be as important, if not more important, as that that comes from each new year. If you make the hours of each day count as much as possible, you need not even bother about the year. As the day is the building block of the year, so are your daily successes the building blocks of your yearly goals. Make the day count!
No comments:
Post a Comment