The idol you desperately need to follow on new-year and for the rest of your life!!

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Anonymous

You must have heard this proverbial phrase somewhere, but a  deep understanding to implement it in our daily life is missing so that you may accept life’s challenges and learn to deal with them rather than demeaning yourself.

Many individuals find it daunting to seek opportunity in calamity. The main contributors to such behaviour are past experiences. The past incidences shackle your present and make you lackadaisical.

You might hesitate to do something productive, because of past-impressions, at least some may be.  

When You thought of proposing your love, writing a poem or making an amazing presentation for your boss; your mind plays games with you, reminding you:

“How your presentations ended up being a laughing stock for peers”?

The poem you penned was mocked in your friend circle!

Your beloved one called you too ugly to date!

The images of people mocking you, roll in your mind like a movie, making you scared and restricting you from following your intuition. Does it happen to you?

Lincoln, Edison, Gandhi, Napoleon, Howard Schultz, Viktor Frankl, Winston Churchill, Hitler, Einstein, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Dr. Zeus etc are great men with inspiring life stories, you must have heard of often and must be fed of arguments such as:

“They too faced difficulties but they held on”.

“If they could do it why can’t you”?

“Learn something from their life”.

Your problems and fears are still unaddressed even after knowing these great men stories? That’s why you are afraid to take action which pushes you into uncertainty.

Do you really need to emulate the greatest man lived/living on earth?  No, you don’t. There exists no point in being another Lincoln or Einstein. If great men don’t inspire you, means you haven’t met, read or heard about one? Because it could be you!

You need to be you, you have to know what gives you joy, not fleeting happiness necessarily. Who should be your role model? To be ruthlessly honest, “Be your own Idol”. And as Lord Buddha said, "Appo Deepo Bhav" which conveys "Be your own Light".

To know yourself, You have to study yourself, But how? To study yourself you have got to know your achievements/Failures/Victories.  Ask the following questions to yourself and try answering them honestly!

Do you know what goals/ habits you have acquired in the last month?

What makes you better than what you were the previous year?

What have you done to maintain the balance of your professional and spiritual being?

What were the most daunting tasks that you achieved?

How many self-imposed limitations did you emancipate from?

How many promises did you keep to yourself?

How many times did you call your parents?

If you have answered the following questions, you must be knowing your failures. Some answers might be depressing and alarming but leave the last year aside. You assumed that failure in some aspects had made you an overall failure, “There exists a difference between failing and failure”. Failing is a verb, thus can be altered with trying but failure is a noun. You failed, doesn’t imply that you could not ever try again?

"Regardless of your past, Tomorrow is a clean slate". Zig Ziglar

Now you have studied yourself. Write down your new year resolutions on a piece of paper. Write the most important one on the top and mention when you will be making your resolution a habit. Specify the date and do mention to give yourself a treat on it's accomplishment. For your benefit, focus on a single thing. One resolution at a time.

Please don’t start with a plan which states, “I will do 20 push-ups, planks, sit-ups with 3 sets daily". Start with, "I will first visit the nearby park".

Keep day 1 a simple visit, day 2 an amble in the park and slowly and steadily, “take one step at a time”. Start with 1 round of the park, just 1 Pushup, 1 Situp, and 1 Benchpress! Funny, who does 1 at a time? You do! every day you could increase your count by a unit.

Try avoiding the gravest mistake, Publicizing your decision, “I will be having 6-pack abs within a month"?

By doing so, you are doomed to failure, because it’s practically impossible to get six pack abs in a month unless you are a celebrity and have tons of money to hire professionals and take care of every small aspect. Just make a self-promise, be committed to “One step at a time” and remember, “Be Patient, Good things take time”.

Miracles will definitely happen if you are willing to surrender this new year if you give yourself space to grow and feel the change within a month or a couple of months. Your achievement will replace your self-image of past failure to one of an achiever. If you fail to achieve your daily task, continue the next day but don’t let the cloud of one-day failure stagnate your whole resolution.

Did you give up when you couldn’t walk as a toddler for the first time? No, then be that toddler again whose passion to walk on its feet is multiple times the pain of failing.

When you complete tasks resonating with your #1resolution, Just say to yourself, “I won the day” and repeat this every day and within weeks, “Winning will be your character” and you will experience that adrenaline rush which will push you to achieve more, do more and be more.

You would no longer seek motivation, your motivation will be your achievements which will convince you to achieve more and finally the great man we talked about earlier will be ready.

“Success isn’t doing 10k a few times, but doing few things 1k times”. Darren Hardy

Practical Wisdom:

Make 2019 an extraordinary year of your life.

Study yourself.

Take one step at a time.

Be Patient. Good things take time.

Give yourself time and space at least for a couple of months.

Be your own Light.