Religiously, the beginning of each New Year would yield thousands of resolutions from people who are desirous of improving themselves, in one way or another. A tradition that we all seem to embrace that gives us hope to become better. As we make resolutions for the New Year, do they really work for us?
The Promise called Resolution
If you research the meaning of resolution, you will find in any dictionary or scholarly article that resolution is a decision to do something. It is a promise. Since this is so, when you script your resolution, you are making a promise to yourself that you will complete some actions in order to realize growth and success. The reality is there is no structure built for the foundation of those desired goals, thus making your resolution a mere empty promise.
The New Year’s resolution tradition was born 4000 years ago, commemorated by the Akitu festival. During the festivity, there would be various types of promises made by the Babylonians as a means of showing reverence to the gods. “In 153 B.C., the Roman Senate declared that the New Year would begin January 1, but it wasn’t until Julius Caesar took the throne in 49 B.C. that the calendar was adjusted so that January falls where it does today” (Howard Bennett, Washington Post, 2018).
A tradition that has now become a fixture of our existence, designed to have us make promises to ourselves that would or should yield desired results. There was no real design to include evaluation or commitment to the creation of this tradition. As it is, resolutions were promises used to commemorate festivity, togetherness and hopes of good grace.
Resolutions or Commitments
If we are serious about personal development and progressive growth, let us stop creating New Year’s resolutions. To make promises is not sufficient to enable your success, after all, promises are easily broken or forgotten. Begin to make commitments and have some ‘sticktuity’…be disciplined.
There is greater responsibility and meaningfulness with crafting commitments that will propel you toward your desired goals. You just need to follow a few steps;
✍Start with a vision by asking yourself why are you seeking these goals, what do you want your future to look like? A vision will give meaning to your mission. Be practical with your vision and do not overreach as this will only enable frustration.
✍Create a mission that will drive your vision. It will give clarity to the road map of your future. Sometimes the mission and the vision are combined but, I believe that they should be separated as without the mission, the vision will lack sight.
✍ Create your goals as these are needed to define the mission. Your goals must be smartly written same goes for your objectives.
✍Once your goals are created, you will need to align your objectives to support the goals.
Your objectives must be SMARTLY written. They must be;
Specific There should be no ambiguity, be as clear as possible
Measureable State what is involved all the key elements and your desired results
Attainable Do not make objectives that you are not able to fulfill or achieve
Realistic You cannot become a doctor in two years if you have no college degree.
Time-bound An objective that is time-bound will enable the final step of
evaluation. With a time-bound objective, you are able to measure your growth
✍Finally, you must evaluate your objectives at different intervals, to ensure that you are achieving your goals. This I believe is a critical part of the process as you will need to know what actions are working and what actions need adjusting.
Begin to follow these steps and I guarantee that you will see results. Though it seems like alot to do, do not shortchange yourselves for just a mere promise. Remember, success requires work, dedication and commitment.
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