Why resolutions die after 31st night

Time seems to be the commonest resource every individual possesses, but the reality is that it is also the scarcest and most important of all resources.

Time is, in fact, a currency, just like money. It can be spent, it can be invested, it can be wasted but sadly, time can never be saved.

Why? Because it keeps running all the time! No wonder someone remarked that time is money.

Perhaps, at the turn of the last decade, you resolved to do some things.

Maybe you wanted to lose weight or you wanted to educate yourself more or you wanted to get closer to God.

Whatever it is, remember that your goals must always be smart, pure and clear.

That means your goal must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time (SMART) bound, Positively stated, Understood, Relevant, Ethical (PURE), Challenging,

Legal, Environmentally sound, Agreed and Recorded (CLEAR). Match your goal(s) against these 14 pointers to see whether it is feasible, then proceed to carry it out, one day at a time.

Excuses

This reminds me of something interesting that happened to me on the last day of last year.

A friend had given me a manuscript to edit for her.

She sent me the document in August but as of December, I hadn’t completed the work.

I felt terrible, even though she had not given me any deadline.

I said to myself on the last day of the year, “I’m not carrying this task over into next year.”

So, I indicated it in my journal as the main task for that day.

I was determined to finish editing the book before attending the long-anticipated New Year’s Eve Service.

Before then, I had always said to myself that I would do it, but I did not, for excuses’ sake.

But when I decided to write down the goal plainly and to complete it, I did it! The fulfillment was euphoric!

I was excited.

It was as though I had been awarded a Pulitzer Prize!

Brian Tracy, New York Times Bestselling Author of No Excuses, illustrated that many times people want to achieve something significant but before they do, they’d like to go to a place called ‘Someday Isle’. They say things like, “Someday I’ll build that house” or “Someday I’ll read that book.”

Interestingly, those on ‘Someday Isle’ are all surrounded by others on ‘Someday Isle’ and they have one chorus they sing: excuses!

Excuses are the reason for which resolutions don’t get fulfilled after 31st night.

The cure for excuses is self-discipline: doing what must be done when it must be done, even if you don’t feel like doing it.

Goals

The following is a simple but important key to fulfilling those goals you’ve dreamed of doing for a while now.

It’s known as the Eisenhower Matrix and has been simplified for your use. When something is important but not urgent: decide when you will do it; when it is urgent and important: do it immediately; when it is not important and not urgent: do it later and when it is urgent but not important: delegate it to someone else.

List your activities/goals for each day and place them in each of the four categories according to your priorities.

At the end of the day, it’s about urgency and importance.

The writer is with Omega Compu Systems Engineering Limited,
E-mail: fiankosamuel@gmail.com