If you haven't read the title of this post, I suggest you read it, or read it again if you already have. How many of you have set targets and made new year's resolution? I can safely say that majority of you must have at least tried twice, and almost all of you have failed! Now, now,…I am not trying to put you down.
But let's really face the fact. Coming up with a new year's resolution is like setting up a plan to fail. The amazing thing about new year's resolution is that it's a collaborative effort of mass failure, because everyone is setting goals and almost everyone is failing to follow through. Hey… I was one of them. (The key is I was)
Why then do we do it over and over and over again? I don't quite know the answer to that haha,.. but I am an observer and all I know for sure is that its there and its very evident. I'll tell you how I escaped this mass murder of goals(sorry for sounding too graphic).
Now for those who know me, know that there is always a story behind what I say or do. So here it goes. It was last year of high school in algebra class and my teacher, Mr. Stewart, a person who I'm sure has inspired many, told the class something that has stayed with me ever since. I don't remember his exact words, but the idea goes like this: common sense will get you no where. It may get you through, but it won't create change, and it won't create progress.
Uncommon sense will! If everyone does the same thing, and the same thing over and over again, nothing really big will happen, because we will experience the same things over and over again. History has told us that it was attitude of uncommon sense, things out of the ordinary that created break throughs and created leaps in progress. I have used this way of thinking many times in my life, and this time I am sharing it. I did not set a new year's resolution! But what I did was I  set my goals in November 2009. Why?
- Because of uncommon sense and the hope of progress tied to it.
- And another thing I learned in high school: Newtons laws of motion.
- Building Resistance – something I realized later.
Reason 1: Everyone sets new year's resolutions and almost everyone fails at it. I did not want to be part of it, and I thought uncommon and decided that I will set my goals away from the time everyone sets them to pull myself away from the collective efforts of failure.
Reason 2: I'll try to simplify this. Imagine you're sitting in your car and press on the gas paddle full tilt. For the first few seconds you're struggling to get your car to full speed, but a few more seconds go and you realize that small amount of force is required for every little change in acceleration, i.e. then it becomes easier to accelerate. And the faster you are moving the harder it will be to stop!
So I started off in November, and by the time it was January I already had momentum, so the parties, food, drinks and the fun-filled holiday spirit in December did not stop me – slowed me down at most. Also, here's why New year's resolution is a bad idea. You've already partied too hard, eaten too much and probably drank too much too and you've had so much fun that it becomes seriously difficult to seriously look at your goals in January.
Forces are already acting against you, so you need to apply more force to have little acceleration towards your goals and slow progress dampens your spirits and sooner or later BLAAHH!! You give up!
Reason 3: Building Resistance. If you set your goals in November, like I did, you have already gone through the parties, the fun, the food and drinks and you realize that you still have momentum  in January. This boosts your confidence and increases your resistance to your outside world. It's like building muscles or getting flu shots. This is something that I realized later and oh yes it feels amazing!
So here's why you should NOT set a new year's resolution!