Reflections of a Survivior

As 2009 reaches its final hours and as we welcome 2010 with great hope, anticipation and enthusiasm, it is essential that we look back and reflect upon what happened in 2009.

Was the year good? Did I achieve the goals that I set during the beginning of 2009? How many of the 2009 resolutions were put into practice? Was the year satisfactory? Was there anything that should have been done but couldn’t do? Are there any regrets? Did I miss something or someone? Was there anything I could have done better, if I had tried more? Did I give my best in all the tasks that I did?

Answers to questions like these would give us a sense of how the past year was. As we analyze the past year and reflect upon the answers we will be able to find out where we did a good job and where we goofed up. We can also find out the reasons why some things went wrong while some others went exceptionally well. We can identify our strengths and weaknesses. We can pinpoint the reasons for our overall performance. We will also be able to find out how to do the things better as we all can learn from our mistakes. Once you do the reflection part, you are armed with what are the things that you didn’t do in 2009, why you didn’t do it, and how the performance could be improved.

This is also the time for new resolutions. One of the things that we should do is to constantly reinvent ourselves. Each day, we should do something that will make us better than what we were yesterday. It can be small improvements like increasing your typing speed from 40 wpm to 42 wpm or improving your vocabulary by learning a few new words or improving your health by exercising regularly. But over the next 12 months, if we try to improve our weak areas, by the end of 2010, we could be proud of ourselves and we would have changed a lot and have morphed us into better versions.

So this year when you make the New Year resolutions, try to set realistic goals and quantify them. Quantifying the goals will make it measurable and at regular intervals we can measure our progress and see whether we are on the right track. For example, instead of making a resolution “I will read more” quantify it—”I will read 120 books this year.” So that means you have to read 10 books a months on an average. So, each month you know whether you are achieving the goal or not. Similarly, rather than making a resolution like “I will exercise and reduce my weight” you should make a resolution like “I will exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 5 days a week and reduce my weight by 6 Kgs.” This again gives you a quantifiable measure that can be monitored.

There is no point in making lofty resolutions and not achieving them. It is better to set realistic and achievable goals. The first one makes you feel good while making them but make you feel miserable at the end of the year. In the second case, you will have a sense of achievement and satisfaction at the end of the year.

I wish all of you lots of happiness, success, love and good health in 2010.