It is a well-known fact, and one often lived out, that the beginning of the year is the ideal time for making new resolutions. These come in many forms: finding a new job, losing weight, getting married, earning more money, writing a book, and so on.
However, the motivation that shapes our resolutions seems to last only a few days, a few weeks, or a few months for the hardiest among us. Statistics show that 60% of us make such resolutions, while only 8% manage to carry them through. It is worth asking, then, why our resolutions fail so miserably barely any time after we have given birth to them.
Here I offer my modest contribution to this question, which speaks to every one of us, women and men alike, at the beginning of each year:
1- a lack of vision:
Vision is the immaterial conception of a project, or the mind’s perception of a reality that is not yet present. The trouble is that we tell ourselves vaguely what we want without putting precise key words on each project. To have a vision is also to visualize: to see oneself already where one would like to be after a certain time. Further still, one might say that it is best to begin living, doing and thinking as though one had already attained it. On that note, I invite you to watch, on YouTube, the video "Ndima by Lumino" . On the subject of vision, by way of example, we often tell ourselves: "I need to change jobs". A clear vision would mean naming the sector, the ministry, the field toward which we definitively want to turn. After this clear vision, it is time to adopt a plan.
2- a lack of a plan:
A plan is a step-by-step organization of the various means of reaching a goal. The beauty of a plan is its capacity to define, gradually, the step by step for achieving the initial objective. Its effectiveness lies in its capacity to foresee the unforeseeable. This is where the brainstorming happens, the kind that ends in a structuring of the whole undertaking. To continue with our example, if your vision is to set up a business selling cosmetics, the plan amounts to answering, in sharp detail, the questions that follow: which products do I want to sell? With how much money can I start? Who will my suppliers be? Who is my target clientele? What training must I complete in order to excel in this field? And so on. Once precise answers have been obtained, perseverance must be shown.
3- a lack of perseverance:
Perseverance is the capacity to carry on despite the obstacles in our path. To show perseverance is to nourish the self in us that tells us "Yes, I am able!" at the expense of that other self that hammers at us: "No, it is too complicated. I will never manage it! I give up". Here, the most important thing is to tell yourself that the only conceivable ending is success. There is no room for failure. The only failure allowed is the one that puts us back on the rails to go even further. Remember that success is meant to be difficult, and that is precisely what makes it so special. If it were lying about in the streets, failure would be the rare and coveted commodity. No matter the time, the effort, the sacrifices it demands, call to mind the words of the famous motivator Les Brown: "It’s not over until I win." Perseverance calls for a good dose of will.
4- a lack of will:
The will is that driving energy which commits us and pushes us to succeed. It is in fact the foundation of everything, for without the will, all our resolutions are nothing but dead letters. It is the fuel that drives us to gather up the small victories day after day. The will shapes our vision and lays the foundations, solid or otherwise, of the whole machine. Motivation puts us on the field; the will makes us advance. It is this will that crystallizes our small actions into habits; and it is habits, healthy or unhealthy, that separate the winners from the losers. With the best vision, the best plan, the most spirited perseverance, but without a nest of will, we are not able to achieve. We can strengthen our will by setting ourselves small personal challenges to meet: getting up earlier, drinking two litres a day, walking five thousand steps a day, signing up for a course and actually taking it, and so on. These are the small things that solidify your will and equip you for great undertakings. The next step is to adopt a model.
5- a lack of a model:
The lack of a model is the other limiting factor when we set out to achieve our New Year’s resolutions. By model, I mean the person, the company or the group of people who have succeeded where we want to make our way. The value of a model is that it helps us walk in the footsteps of a strategy that has already proved itself. For those who have the means, this is where you should seek out pairings, mentorships and coaches who will have an impact on you and guide you. The profession you are aiming for, who already practises it? The entrepreneurial project you have in mind, who has already tried such a model? The travel plan you have, who has already lived a similar story? What advice can you get from them? What mistakes did they make that you can no longer afford? And so on. Some models will ask you to pay. Invest, however, if and only if your vision, your plan, your perseverance and your will are in top form.
From now on, you will no longer have any grounds for saying, in December 2022, that you were unable to reach your objectives.
Now that you know the limiting shortcomings that keep you from seeing your resolutions through, what are you going to change? What other lacks can you add to the list to enlighten us?
M.Z.
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