Year End — A Time for Contemplation and Stock taking

Year ends are generally a time for celebration. We await the new year eagerly. We party with family and friends, travel to touristy places and enthusiastically make merry. Very few among us, basically the MBA-corporate types, who make it a point to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) resolutions for themselves, perhaps also review their accomplishments against targets set at the beginning of the year. It is a practice that should be emulated by more of us.

For the first time in my life, on 01 January 2020, I too (under pressure from my sister, herself a corporate honcho) took up two new year resolutions — one was to write a certain number of articles and the other was raising a specific amount of funds to implement planned programs for the education NGO that I run. While at the time, it seemed like an exercise in futility, the fact that these were announced in front of the family rather than existing only in my mind, did put pressure on me to follow through. The intensity of that pressure being inversely proportional to the time left for the approaching deadline, viz. 31st December 2020.

As of 28 December, I am only halfway there, but I can honestly say that I did work hard to deliver on the promises made. I am being one hundred percent sincere when I vouch that had I not made the targets public, I probably would not have done even this much, howsoever desirable the outcomes were to me. I would have dismissed the goals as unachievable or convinced myself with excellent excuses for my failure — “this was an unusual year; covid 19 changed everything; no one expected or anticipated this; had things been normal I would definitely have done it”.

So here I am, converted to the idea that setting SMART goals for yourself is certainly a smart move. It can be done at any time, New Year is just one of them, it could as well be a birthday, anniversary, date of reaching a significant milestone in life — admission to dream college, first job, first date etc., and of course no day is better than TODAY.

The taking up of specific resolutions for the year have brought with them a rather strange thought. I sometimes imagine what the last days of my life would be like — if I knew when my time would be up, would I be happy and content or full of regrets. Just as 2021 beckons and I have promises unfulfilled for the current year, when nearing the end, what feelings would I be experiencing. Would I have lived up to my potential having discharged my duties or would there be unfinished items on the agenda. Would I be proud of having lived life to the fullest or would there be repentance at having squandered my time on fruitless endeavours.

The best part of making new year resolutions is that we can measure our progress, and as the year closes, even if we haven’t realized our goals, we can take heart in the fact that we still have the luxury of time — another year and then another and yet another, God-willing that is. If we have advanced sufficiently towards the target, it would further encourage us to exert more and hasten our pace. In effect, new year resolutions help to break our entire life into smaller segments which force us to take a hard look at what we have been up to and what we have achieved till date. In addition, we can take solace in the fact that this is not The End, we still have more time. Therefore, we better pull up our socks before it is actually too late.

Almost every one of us makes plans and promises to ourselves — thinking about what we want to be in life, things we wish we take up, struggles we wish to see through to their logical conclusion. It is an excellent idea to set a cut-off point for these dreams, when critical self-appraisal should be done. It would surely keep us on our toes, pushing us to move harder and faster in pursuit of our mission. Also, I believe it would help us be much better prepared to meet our maker, hopefully with a sense of achievement and serenity. How ideal would it be to avoid disappointment at having wasted a lifetime seeking nothing but pleasure, frittering away precious time chasing worthless phantoms.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year 2021.

Go ahead, make plans, take up new year resolutions, set SMART goals for yourself.

Become all that you ever wanted to be, what you were meant to be.

Godspeed.