At the end of every storm is the strength we get from navigating the storm. 2020 was a stormy year and lessons had been learnt. Among the lessons learnt were the lack of capacity of the Nigerian healthcare system and the ruling class’s unpopularity among the majority of the youth. The Covid-19 pandemic and the EndSARS protest are two major defining events in our national life.
At the end of 2021, some people will blame the virus for not achieving their goals. Some leaders will blame the world economic situation for their failure to deliver on their electoral promises when they never intended to fulfil them in the first place. I agree 2021 is also with unplanned events. Still, individuals who are ready to take a personal risk will make something out of the uncertainty ahead. Organisations that are ready to improvise, re-energise and rethink their product or service offerings will gain market share and retain patronages.
New Year resolutions are emotional void and empty desires, mostly without the attitude required to generate the miracle of the harvest
For individuals, taking a personal risk is having an unbending sense of purpose for the New Year while deploying their weaknesses and strengths to achieve their objectives. I told over 250 online audiences in various coaching engagements this month not to be part of the excuse-makers. I charged them to be different from the preferred customers of the gym or fitness operators. Fitness Operators in advanced economies enjoy a boom at the beginning of the year. Many people enrolled for a yearlong subscription to be part of the fitness services and to use the facilities based on their emotions at the beginning of the year. We all have the euphoria and feelings to do better in the New Year. We all have New Year resolutions at the beginning of the year. The fitness operators have seen that over 78% of those who signed up to fitness services at the beginning of the year ended up not using the facility within the first 60days of the New Year.
Read Also: Will Nigeria’s refining renaissance begin in 2021?
What happened to the New Year resolutions? Where are the emotions and euphoria that led to the initial action of making payments for the fitness services? In my experience, New Year resolutions are emotional void and empty desires, mostly without the attitude required to generate the miracle of the harvest. To most people, New Year resolutions have failed in years without numbers and yet, they repeat the ritual every year without a change of attitude and mindset.
I ditched New Year’s resolution over 15years ago for my Goal Achievement Strategy (GAS). In my first book Transform Yourself published in 2013, I shared how the GAS method had helped me achieve success in my targeted areas of life. Instead of writing New Year resolutions, at the beginning of every year, develop a new attitude for the New Year. The future you desire is an attitude, and the best way to change your growth and success trajectory in 2021 is to challenge your thinking.
I am focusing on individuals because if many people have a change in attitude and improve their lives, the teams, organisations or associations they belong to will be transformed. What corporate organisations need is not much of bullying but a multitude of owner thinking employees with a combined attitude that aligns to an improved and expected outcome.
Forget New Year resolutions. At the start of this year, and it is not too late to do so, write out the outcome you want by the end of 2021. Do not be discouraged by the pandemic. It is an equal opportunity event that affects all including the rich, powerful, and the mighty in the society. In the words of Stephen Covey, begin with the end in mind. Write out what December 2021 should be in terms of your productivity, physical and financial fitness, family, and in all your areas of interest. In my case, I do itemise a maximum of seven items or areas I want to see massive changes in the year. Having done this, you will have to put this summary in a place you can see it every day and regularly. I used to put my GAS note in front of my dressing mirror with a copy in my Bible.
Having defined the year, the next step is to know what to be done daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly to move you from where you are to where you want to be at the end of the year. These are the attitudes required for making the New Year a worthwhile journey laden with fulfilments.
Many people will be discouraged by the hugeness of the tasks ahead and on the road to realising their dreams. Be authentic to yourself for once. Do you desire to see changes in 2021? If yes, the road to your change of levels is the realisation that your dreams are possible. That is what I ask you to write down, and it is also the objectives you want to see manifested at the end of the year (R and O in the word road). The action is the attitude or behaviours required to be displayed every day and measured weekly or monthly with the discipline to continue execution even if COVID-2021 becomes more stubborn than its predecessors (A and D in the word road).
The future you desire is an attitude, not a wish. As you navigate through 2021 with its seen and unseen storms, be nice to yourself by celebrating every little win along the road. As long as we are living, we have no choice than to think and expect the best. The attitude of having only positive expectations (hope) is a difference-maker, and we all need such a perspective in 2021.
