Why New Year Resolution?
At the start of every New Year, many people, irrespective of age, promise to make a fresh beginning in their lives. Some of them resolve to exercise regularly, many take a vow to eat healthy and several others try to become better human beings. If you are a student, then you must be well acquainted with this yearly ritual, for scoring better marks is a common resolution. Not making one means you are not in tune with the times.
History
There is an interesting history behind the New Year Resolution and that has to do with the Roman god, Janus. The month of January is named after this interesting character in Roman mythology.
Janus had two faces, each being opposite to the other. One face represented pessimism, failure, and disappointment while the other was all about hope and enthusiasm.
The pessimist’s face was always turned toward the year gone by while Janus’ other face welcomed the New Year. The ancient Romans imagined that Janus lived between December 31 and January 1 and so they worshipped him for good beginnings. They prayed for his forgiveness for their misdeeds and made resolutions for the New Year and this is how this practice began.
How Does It Help To Develop A Student Lifestyle?
When properly followed, New Year Resolutions help individuals develop themselves. Especially, when it comes to students, New Year resolutions are proven to make rejuvenating transformations in their monotonous life and help in spreading positivity in their mind and soul.
New Year resolutions work as a blessing in disguise for students who want to improve their lifestyle when academic stress and peer pressure takes a toll on life. For that, the student must keep track of his/her promises on a regular basis and further break down the annual goal into small achievable objectives and then strive to achieve them.
Below are the two simple steps through which students can develop themselves by making and sticking to their promises:-
1. Set Annual Goals
Once the annual goals have been met, it leads to personal satisfaction. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing one’s goals being achieved. Successful people always set their goals and strive to attain them.
2. Segregate Them Into Achievable Targets
If young students want to grow and develop into future leaders, then it is imperative that they set their personal goals and later achieve them. They can lead their followers successfully only if the leaders know which goals to set and how to meet them.
Elaborating on this topic, personal discipline is necessary for the achievement of goals and this trait comes handy while leading a small unit or a big corporation later in life.
Take the case of a college student who is not faring well in a particular discipline. Let’s assume that the subject in question in Computer Science. So he analyzes which areas is he weak in and then sets up milestones to work on those areas.
Bit by bit, he covers up those weak points and while he is doing this, he is also taking the help of his professors. At the end of the year or semester, by dint of his perseverance, he is now on top of the situation. For him, Computer Science is no longer a subject that he is afraid of.
New Year Resolutions: Way of Re-Skilling Oneself
Many people do not realize that achieving New Year Resolutions can also make a person more disciplined. For example, a student dreams to become an engineer in the future, and for this, he sets up small milestones to reach to that one big goal. The small achievable target might include, clearing his 12th with maximum percentage, cracking any coveted entrance exam, getting into an elite engineering college, and the list goes on until he/she has achieved the dream of being an engineer. With efficient planning of succeeding New Year resolutions, a student can develop that required discipline and perseverance in life that will further help in developing a sound personality.
How to Set Your New Year Resolution?
Select a resolution according to the following criterion;
1. It should impact one’s own life. A resolution must have a meaning and meeting it will better one’s life. For example, a student can resolve to revise his tutorials every day. Revision helps in staying on top, isn’t it?
2. A good resolution is actionable. If you are setting up an unrealistic goal, then it is better not to set it at all.
3. Resolutions must be measurable. Every time you achieve a milestone, record it. For example, if you have promised to cover a particular subject by the end of a semester, then track your performance periodically. This way, you enjoy chasing goals.
4. Don’t choose a resolution for the heck of it. Remember, your New Year promise must reflect your deep desire to be a better student. Don’t get swayed by trends.
Why You Should Change Your Goals into Quests?
There is an important reason why this section is here and that is to differentiate between goals and quests.
Everybody likes to pursue a goal but very few people like to search for something which is higher than a goal. A quest is something intangible, immeasurable and abstract.
A goal is a subset of a quest.
Your goal may be to top your class at the end of 2019 but why do you want to achieve that goal? The answer lies within yourself and once you discover that, you have reached your objective fifty percent; the rest will be achieved with your dedication and persistence.
Set Your New Year Resolution Today!
Identifying and meeting New Year resolutions is a great way to stay focused in the student life. For college students especially, having actionable and measurable goals means getting ready for bigger roles in life. However, before setting one’s goals, the youth must understand that there is more to life than setting objectives and chasing them. Attaining goals must be linked to the larger purpose in one’s life.