New Year’s Resolutions

‘The Old Year has gone.  Let the dead past bury its own dead.  The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time.  All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!’ – Edward Payson Powell

Today marks the end of Year 2009. It’s been truly a wonderful year for me. I’m very thankful and grateful to God for the valuable insight that He has provided me to ponder upon and all the hardships and challenges faced that have brought about change in my life to be a better person. I would also like to express my most heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to my dear for being supportive and making a difference in my life. It’s truly a blessing to have you by my side! So people, having faced the ups and downs of 2009, today is the best time to hit the ‘pause’ button and be thankful for all the happenings throughout the year and it’s time to reflect on the life of 2009 and change for the future – 2010.

No matter how busy you are with life, make room for quiet time and reflect. Through the reflection, allow your strengths and weaknesses in every possible aspect of your life to surface and try to draw a purpose statement and resolutions for yourself for the year 2010.

My purpose statement for the year 2010 is as follow:

‘ I am to reflect Christ who is in me better to others, to excel in studies and lifestyle and to bring happiness to others especially my loved ones and making a difference in their life.’

Wondering why there is a need to create a purpose statement?

Purpose statement creates:

Direction. We know where we are heading towards in life. We  are conscious of what we are doing and why we are doing it. It enables us to identify and focus on the most feasible ways necessary for the achievement of our aims and goals.

Motivation. It serves as a driving force for us to realise our aims and goals especially in carrying out the resolutions that we have set. Knowing that there’s hope in achieving the aims of our life through the purpose made known to ourselves, we will perform at the utmost to achieve the aims (resolutions).

Passion. We become excited and fired up of what we are doing when we know our direction and when the purpose is fulfilled, it gives us a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction which drives us to do more of what we are doing to fulfil the purpose statement.

Vision. We are able to place ourselves in the future with imagination and wisdom. This enables us to work subconsciously towards achieving our aims and goals. ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ – Proverbs 29:18

Having mentioned my purpose statement, here’s my New Year’s resolutions:

1. Be a good Christian Catholic leader and servant of God. Next year is a year for me to be an effective beacon of God’s love and an effective instrument of God in serving Him especially in leading the Sunway Student Catholic Fellowship with the aim of fulfilling the purposes that God has for us as Christians which are evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship and ministry. Action plans are currently being drafted.

2. Finish ACCA professional scheme by end of next year. Passing all of the subjects I am going to take next year on first attempt is the key to achieving this aim. Thus,  I am going to work extra hard and smart and killing off plain laziness that arises in the process of study.

3. Enrich life experiences and make them known to others. One of the approaches which is in line with the purpose statement of making a difference in others. This can be self-enrichment experiences or spiritual life experiences (sharing of knowledge on Christian faith obtained through personal quiet time with God, seminars, involvement in youth ministry and reflections)

4. Fulfil resolutions that my dear have for me in 2010. Your wish is my command. =)

5. Get buffed.  5 meals per day, at least 30 minutes of workout daily.

When it comes to resolution, the downside of it is that the spirit and enthusiasm tends to die down within weeks. Here’s some points to prevent that from happening:

Start off easy and small. So that there’s no excuse for not starting. You’ll not be intimidated and overwhelmed by the difficulty and quit.

Enjoy the activity. If you’re forcing yourself to do what you do not like or want, you are well on your way to failure.  It’ll only last for a while and you’ll give up eventually. Focus on the enjoyable aspects on the activity and promote enjoyable experience while working towards achieving your resolutions. E.g. If you’re changing a  bad habit, think of the adverse effect that the habit has on you and think of the benefits you get in changing the habit; set up competition in achieving the goal of a particular activity, be it between you and others or against yourself; When it comes to study, make your learning experience an enjoyable one such as drawing mind maps instead of reading through bulky boring text, testing each others of what you and your friends have learnt or studying with your loved one.

Commit as publicly as possible. When you have made the commitment publicly, you are accountable to them. You will feel embarrassed if you have not started with your resolutions.

Focus on the process, not the progress. Focus on how you can do better rather than looking into how far have you gotten to your goal. It may take longer and much more efforts to reach your goal than expected. You’ll be discouraged and stressed if things don’t go in line with your expectations.

Resolutions set must not be vague. Make your resolutions as specific as possible with concrete action plan.

Persevere. It is the key to success. Nothing is impossible when you persevere and endure through the challenges faced. ‘By your endurance you will gain your souls’ – Luke 21:19

Have you got resolutions in mind already?

That’s all folks!  Happy New Year!

Cheers!