Welcome to the magical world that brings us 2013.
May it
bring us rainbows and unicorns and lots of shopping! And let’s take a moment to
honour Desmond Miles of Assassin’s Creed for saving us from the apocalypse
(Geeky reference here. Sorry, not sorry).
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| Play Assassin's Creed, okay? |
It’s that time of year again when we all sit down and set
out to become better versions of ourselves. We go ahead and write down things
like ‘I will run more’, ‘I’m going to ask so-and-so out on a date’, etc.
We do
this with gusto as we are showered in the sparkly magic that is the New Year.
But then somehow as the first couple of weeks of the New
Year fade into the sands of time, the magic begins to wear off. The New Year
becomes less and less enchanting and more and more just like the same old life
we’ve been living. We start to forget what we set out to do. Instead of
conquering the New Year, the habits of the bygone years conquer us anew. We
settle into the comforting existence that we swore we’d leave behind and just
kind of… stop.
Girllll, am I guilty of this.
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| Pictured here: Regrets to fill a page (Yeah, it's full of black. Do you get it?!) |
The weight I promised to get rid off? Still there. The novel
I swore I’d finish by age 20? Uh, I left the first chapter in the Philippines
and promptly forgot about it. The promise to ‘become a good cook’? Yeah, what
happened to that? What about my oath to do the Auckland Harbour Crossing and
swim 2.6km in open waters by November 2012? Hahahahaha, good one, Pattee! You
had me going for a bit.
The thing is we resolve to do things, and we mean well, but
somehow we end up flat on our faces. There are wonderful people out
there who manage to take the bull that is life by the horns and just KICK SOME MAJOR
BUTTOCKS. But I am not one of those people… yet. And I want to be.
I honestly don’t think I’m much of a resolutions person. I was never
one for persistence and discipline. But results? I can do results! Maybe it won’t
come out as amazing as I was expecting, but, hey! Shoot for the moon and land
in the stars, right?
Yeah, in theory. I still have to try to actually even get
midway to the stars. So what’s my game plan? What can be your game plan?
Well, here’s what I’ve learned over the past few days of
reading random articles via Twitter. (Dear Twitter people I follow, never change unless for the better. I love reading your tweets!)
How To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions/Goals/Bucket List Be
More Achievable, I Guess
5 Simple Steps?
1. Rope your buddy into this because
if you’re going to suffer your way into awesome, by golly, you do not want to
be the only one miserable!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx For example, when studying for a tough exam, do you find it easier to study when ushered on by the onslaught of death threats by your closest friends? If not, then you may be lucky your friends don't threaten to kill you, but you might be missing out on some life-changing stuff. What I'm trying to say is don't go at it alone. Humans are social creatures (in spite of also being selfish and possibly bloodthirsty). We got your back, baby.
2. Make it so freaking simple to do
stuff a brain dead raccoon could do it
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx We do things because they're easy to do. Why do I eat cake instead of go out for a run? It's easier to get my boyfriend to buy/fetch/prepare cake than for me to physically get ready for a run, then actually go out and do it. You know that saying, Keep It Simple Stupid? Applies here as well. You know
BJ Fogg from Stanford University? Check out his
Tiny Habits program and change your life the easy way, one baby step at a time.
3. Make a plan because when you fail
to plan, plan to fail
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| Figure out Step 2, or you get... a pile of underpants! And not much else |
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx When I was taking my Management 101 class, I hated it because my lecturer had a never-ending supply of pithy quotables and motivational whatevers. Also because I thought it was a lot of stupid. Actually it was one of the best classes of my life (but only after I was done with it), and she was totally right when you should make a plan. Don't do it the South Park way and think that Step 2 will magically take you from collecting underpants to PROFIT$$$$.
4. Ease into it like when you’re
about to take an ice cold shower because the heater is busted, but you really really
need to shower RIGHT NOW because you have a hot date in 2 hours, and you are a
SOLDIER, you can DO THIS
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dudes and dudettes, you totally got this. You know what you want! You're going for it! But jumping headlong into a bunch of resolutions is almost always a recipe for disaster.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx It's akin to jumping into an icy shower for the first time in years when you've familiarised yourself so thoroughly with the loving caress of the hot shower from day one. You freak. You get overwhelmed. You may try to take those cold showers again for a little while, but it is highly possible you may never ever try a cold shower again. On the other hand, if you slowly ease your way into the icy waters, you will probably be willing to try it again tomorrow (assuming you shower everyday), the next day and the next. You know how it is with the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race and such and such. (I know I'm a hypocrite! I spew quotes left and right too ;__;)
5. Get specific because if you were
the pilot of the airplane that is your life, you better watch that navigation
system, lest you end up crashing into a mountain rather than flying over
the clear skies of beautiful Hawaii
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx What do you want to achieve? That's a good question to ask yourself. For example, do you want to drop 2 dress sizes, or do you want to run a marathon? Similar goals in the sense they're both fitness-related, but the thinking behind them is different, and the plans to achieve them may be drastically different. What do you want? Really want? Because even if you ended up running that marathon when all you really wanted was to fit into that sexy bodycon dress, sure, you'll be proud, but in your heart of hearts, you'll just know that wasn't what you really wanted. So get specific and think! :)
This list is really a way for me to remember stuff I read
and for me to remember that if other people can be awesome, why can’t I be?
And
more importantly... why shouldn’t you be awesome?
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Depicted: You - a special snowflake, no matter what anyone may say
Snowflake by Bystander> |
Granted, psychology taught me
we’re not all special snowflakes (I think I should put a reference here
sometime), but my high school biology teacher told us that we’re all
one-in-a-billion. I’d rather hear that then ‘Well, you’re not really that
different’. Okay, so maybe I’m not a
special snowflake. That certainly doesn’t mean I can’t put on a damn good show
of being one and inspiring others to do the same.
So here’s to making 2013 the year of being freaking awesome
(Oh gosh, I’ve been watching too much Supernatural lately, so I apologise for
the exuberant use of the word ‘awesome’).
The other day I read about picking a word for the year and
letting it guide me. My word is experience. Really experience life and
experience being me completely. And let the empress inside me shine. And if the
experiences I end up facing this year won’t be too great? Yeah, okay, I’ll take
those and experience them too (Read: I started the year by getting sick, tripping on flat ground, skinning my knee and toe (separate occasions) and posing with practically no eyebrows for family photos).
What’s your word for 2013?! And what do you think of The
Five Steps I Borrowed From Other People To Make Life Awesome-r? :)
If you enjoyed, hate, got a laugh or otherwise got some worthwhile reaction out of this post, don't hesitate to leave a comment, share it on Twitter or Facebook or tell people about my blog! :)
Here’s to life-winning,
P.S. Coming soon: my goals for the year!
P.P.S. I use post-scripts a lot gwarrrrr
