Let’s make a new sense out of our NYRs- II
| Date :05-Jan-2020 |
THERE is a reason why New Year Resolutions (NYRs) fail on such a massive scale -- those who make those resolutions make long lists of things to be done or to achieve in the year. And that is where the catch -- one person and too many NYRs, too many wishes, too many goals in just 365 days. That may be the reason why NYRs have earned a bad name for themselves, which actually need not be so. There used to be a wise, old teacher in our college. He told us a good idea about NYRs.
“Have only one for one year. Make the right choice. And then go for it and ensure that it is fulfilled to the hilt”. Yes, a simple way to do things, one must agree. But that did help many of us. We followed the dictum -- only one resolution per year, completed successfully. This has a hidden message about larger life, too: Life moves on in steps, and not all the steps in one go. So, one step at a time, one achievement at one moment, one goal -- short-term or long-term -- at a time to be reached ...! The idea is simple, but most of us lose sight of simple ways of doing things on most occasions.
We complicate things just because we are infatuated with achieving big things all at once. We are impressed by the tallest building in the world, the longest tunnel, the fattest man ...! So, we want the very best in one go in every New Year, and end up assigning to ourselves tasks rather too big, too cumbersome. Most NYRs end up like that. And so many cynics among us decide not to have any NYRs at all. But then, there used to be a cricketer who followed the dictum of ‘one thing at a time’. So, he practised only one stroke at a time for days until he perfected it. He would then move on to other strokes as he kept earning good name for himself in batting.
And what a great name his was -- and still is -- Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, the legendary Little Master who made big achievements look like simple tasks. When he was a young lad playing for schools, others would prod Sunil Gavaskar to try this and that stroke and learn more and faster. But he was not in a hurry. He was a boy who planned his things so well that his achievements became remarkable in due course of time. But soon enough -- that is in just a few years, Sunil Gavaskar had become the master of all the strokes there were in the cricket book.
The same principle can be followed while making NYRs as well. The year 2020 is just five days old, and we still can think of choosing one specific NYR and follow it through to the logical and successful culmination. That would be a better achievement to talk about any day rather than curse the failed NYRs. In the field of personality development, too, this has a message -- let us keep adding one facet to our personality at a time so that in time we acquire a well-rounded personality, ready to take on the world, willing to face any challenge. And the secret of making that possible is to move step by step, one NYR per year implemented fully and successfully. So, happy and successful NYRs!