As we fast approach the year 2021 and eagerly want to get over a turbulent 2020, almost all of us will start making resolutions for the new year. And almost all of us will again fail as almost all of the resolutions we make will soon be forgotten, many of them as early as even before the end of January. This has become a routine annual feature and sometimes we really wonder as to what happened to our will power and determination.

Every year we make resolutions to shed significant kilos of body weight in a month. We resolve to quit our addictions for smoking and alcohol. We resolve to take multiple courses in the new year so we can rise the corporate ladder faster than our peers. We resolve to repay our financial obligations. We resolve to be more organised in the new year. We resolve to spend more time with the family. We resolve to relive our childhood and meet our school friends. We resolve to see the world. We resolve to stay more in touch with our parents. The list is simply endless.

As the year progresses and by the time couple of months of the new year are over, we feel helpless and wonder what we really need to do to achieve what we resolved for. I believe there is nothing wrong with the resolutions we make and looking at each of them they are perfectly achievable resolutions. What goes wrong is not being clear on how to achieve them.

If you plan to lose say 10 kgs, be practical and plan to do so over a reasonable period rather than pushing yourself hard and beyond practicality. Target losing the 10 kgs over a period of let’s say 3 months rather than being unreasonable and trying doing it in a month.

Completely quitting smoking or drinking alcohol all of a sudden may not be easy but cutting down gradually over a period of let’s say 3 to 6 months may be more of a practical proposition.

Taking on multiple courses all at once may be overwhelming but taking one course at a time and may be a course or two over a year may be a more practical possibility. At the end of the year, you may not have done 5 courses but 1 or 2 courses done effectively may make you feel much better equipped at the end of the year than at the start of the year. Do remember some things do take time.

We may want to repay our loans and aim for financial independence but without a plan and without a confirmed repayment source, it would be just a plan on paper. If you seriously plan cutting down on your financial obligations, consider enhancing your savings, and consider enhancing your return on investments so you may get on the right path of reducing your financial obligations. At the end of the year, you may not have repaid the entire loan but you would be still much better than what you started the year with.

We may feel the dire need of being more organised at our work and personal lives but it is imperative to identify the specific areas that need to be organised. Whether it is your desk that you need to organise. Whether it is your relationships with your superiors and subordinates that you need to organise so your professional life is better organised. Whether you need to sort out the things at home so you feel better in control. Once you identify the specific area needing attention, take the small steps in the direction to organise the same. Having a generic intention of being organised will never get you anywhere.

It is very easy to simply want spending more time with the family. What needs to be however done, is to have hard cut-offs in your daily routine to make sure you have dedicated time slots for your family. You may want to start work earlier than you normally do so you can finish on or before your regular time and ensure you make time every day for the family. You may want to consciously stay away from your smartphones, laptops, etc, for say a couple of hours every evening so you can spend quality time with your family. You may want to completely cut-off technology atleast one day every week may be every Saturday and spend quality time with your family.

Most of us have so many nostalgic memories about our school friends and the wonderful times spent with them. Each year passes with we wanting to meet our friends and reliving those memories and sooner than we realise, this year is over too. Its time to formally schedule a reunion with your friends on a set date and plan the event to make it happen this new year.

People who love to travel resolve every year to want to see the world. With your regular life commitments, it would be practically impossible to do this in one year or even two or five years. The key is to plan for seeing 1 country each year and plan a couple of week’s holiday each year to see the country of your choice off course with the COVID situation easing out. If you can add on countries, the more the better but be practical and reasonable weighing carefully the time and money resource in hand.

Many of us have aging parents and living remotely from them due to work commitments, is a pain that we have to go through while living away from them. We do resolve to spend more time with them or to keep in touch with them more often but somehow just don’t understand where time flies. May be this year, schedule a fixed time every set day of the week to give them a call and set your calendar to try seeing them for a 2-3 days period every 3-4 months. Mark it on your calendar and respect this appointment the same way as your office appointments.

Obviously, this cannot be an exhaustive list. Each one of us is different in his or her own right and each one of us have our own set of resolutions. The point I am trying to make in each of the above instances is rather than trying doing big things all at once and then failing at it, start taking the baby steps. Do small things to take you closer to your goal, whatever the goal or resolution be. We may not be able to do completely what we wanted to do, but we will at least be closer to the goal. Inching forward is better than not getting anywhere. The key to get closer to what we resolve for is to keep on taking small baby steps firmly and in a planned way so that we keep on driving in the right direction. Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

After all, it is never too late to start taking the baby steps.

Happy reading

– Nalin Chandna