By CAROL LI
ONLINE EDITOR
ART BY ESTELLE ZHOU The phrase “New year, new me” needs a little revising. How about “New day, new goals?”
It is a tradition today to use the burst of motivation that comes with a new year to create an improved image of ourselves. From developing better study habits to starting a gym membership, New Year’s resolutions have been many people’s approach to start the year off the right foot.
However, waiting for New Year’s to improve oneself is counterproductive. Why put off your dreams when you can reach them now?
Although the start of a new year promotes self-reflection and self-improvement, individuals should realize that simply writing a wish list or sharing it on social media will not make their dreams reality. For example, New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for being hard to maintain due to lack of thought given to them. Throughout the year, as people realize they have failed their resolutions, they are left with a feeling of disappointment and regret. Yet, people put off their goals with the excuse that life is too busy to focus on these miniscule aspirations.
Consequently, some may believe that they are unsuccessful even when they stick to their resolutions. Instead of focusing on when we should achieve our goals, we should emphasize how the goals will be achieved. Crafting a realistic plan to reach their dreams will allow people to realize that an immense amount of energy and commitment needs to be put in. When focusing on the process, individuals tend to set priorities on what is needed to reach their goals, instead of dreaming about what will occur when the goals are accomplished.
Essentially, the idea of waiting until the start of the year induces procrastination. It is important to pursue our goals now because it can provide great learning experiences that will benefit us in the future.
Moreover, starting off with the correct attitude would help many people stick to their resolutions. Even taking one step, no matter how small, is enough to knock down the barriers that present themselves between people and their dreams. Having positive thoughts such as “I can do it!” will help people motivate themselves to pursue their dreams. But are we afraid to put in the work, or simply lack the commitment to complete our tasks?
Surprisingly enough, our advanced lifestyle today may play a role in how we perceive resolutions. For example, with the advancement of technology leads to society becoming less patient. When surfing the internet, users only need to wait half the time for pages to load than they did five years ago. According to The Boston Globe, a study was conducted to see how long users would wait for a video to load. The results were disturbing: after two seconds, subjects began abandoning the video; when ten seconds passed, only half of the users were still waiting.
As a result, society is steadily adapting to a fast-paced lifestyle and abolishing the process of progress. Thus, the focus has shifted toward immediate feedback and away from long-term mindsets. As a result, it is easy to fall into the trap that dreams can happen overnight.
Similarly, the habit of making New Year’s resolutions only encourages the belief that accomplishing goals is as effortless as creating them. Nonetheless, it is not that clear cut, because the level of difficulty all depends on what the goal is and mindset of the individual. Little things such as buying a new wallet or shoes can be easily done without much effort, but dreams such as losing weight or getting a good grade require more thought, time, dedication and persistence.
While the thought that wishes can easily come true from a new year’s resolution is comforting, goals are only realistically accomplished through everyday perseverance and effort. So, even if one’s dream was not included in the list of New Year goals, it is still perfectly acceptable to begin now.