Now that the past year has drawn
to an end, eventful or otherwise, don’t you think it’s high time to ring out
the old and ring in the new? This new doesn’t mean only new resolutions and
goals, but a brand new self too! Excited? Thrilled at the prospect? Well then,
here’s a lowdown on how we can re-invent ourselves, this coming New Year.
Take a hard look at ourselves: Now don’t get me wrong. I am sure
that all of us find our images very appealing and irresistible in the mirror. What
I really mean is truly appraise ourselves in terms of our personalities,
identities and attitudes. Have we achieved all that we had set out to, last
year? Are our resolutions still running their course to their logical,
pre-determined conclusion or have we strayed? Have we become better, more
motivated and passionate individuals or has the sheen started wearing off? Do
we feel the strain of living, the pressures of our office and personal lives;
or are we just as enthusiastic as ever?
The best thing would be to find
out for ourselves, because only we know what we want from our lives, isn’t it?
O.K. then, get a paper and pen and start jotting in two columns. The first one
would obviously contain points about our past lives, meaning up to this New
Year and the second column would contain points pertaining to what we would
like ourselves to become in the future starting from this New Year.
The points could be broadly
categorized as likes and dislikes, joys and sorrows, achievements and regrets,
etc. The possibilities are endless. The more points we jot down sincerely, the
better. This will enable us to have a wider perspective and vision about how
things could be better and what we should do to make them better.
Do a SWOT Analysis: Jot down all our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. We may write them
as per our perceptions or if we want the list to be more accurate, we could
enlist the help of our near and dear ones. This will make the list more
objective than subjective. We can then analyze how we can optimize our
strengths, seize the right opportunities and overcome our weaknesses and
minimize the threats to make our lives more enriched.
We’ll learn a lot from what
Sunanda did to transform her life. She was a Gynecologist and had her own
successful practice. She was divorced after 10 years of marriage and had two
kids aged 4 and 8. Initially she felt like a rudderless ship tossed about in a
stormy ocean and was very depressed. Then she decided to move on and be strong
for the sake of her young ones.
She one day decided to do a SWOT
Analysis and noted down her observations. Her strengths were her financial
independence, her confidence, her ability to be cheerful and get along with
people. Her weaknesses were her gullible nature, placing too much trust in
strangers and her tendency to splurge her hard-earned money. Her opportunities
were her freedom from household chores which gave her more time to concentrate
on her career and the invites from medical colleges to be a Visiting Faculty.
Her threats were vicious relatives with ulterior motives and her husband’s
refusal to pay any alimony since she was self-reliant and earned more than him!
Prioritize: Now that the first hurdle has been overcome, we can
smoothly proceed to the next one. Take the points on the list that you would
like to change ASAP (As Soon As Possible). This will involve setting priorities
and if this step itself goes wrong, we could end up barking up the wrong tree
and wasting invaluable time! So we will make another list listing all the tasks
to be achieved, priority-wise with the most important ones on the topmost rung
and the least important ones on the lowermost one.
Kindly let’s do this ourselves
and refrain from taking anyone else’s advice, as they could be wrong.
Everyone’s perspective is different and what is good for the goose needn’t be
good for the gander! Of course, we can be the best judge of our destiny. For
the less-confident ones, they could consult with their best friends or near and
dear relatives. Just as too many cooks spoil the broth, avoid an open-house discussion
on this sensitive issue and involve only trusted confidantes in this exercise!
Sunanda zeroed in on the
priorities in her life accurately. She needed to save for the future, hers as
well as her children’s. She had to confront her ex-hubby and reason out with
him to provide for the kids’ future, if need be, hire a lawyer for the same! She
had to take advantage of every available opportunity to make more money. Then
she had to become immune to the jibes from unpleasant relatives. Lastly, she
had to be more organized and active.
Get cracking: It’s always better to start our tasks
right away and avoid procrastination. Suppose the first priority for a
gentleman is personality development, he could enroll himself in a reputed
institute offering courses in the same. He could read up on the topics
pertaining to image enhancement, hire image consultants if needed, brush up on
his etiquette, social and interpersonal communication skills and go in for a
make-over in terms of grooming and dressing style, etc. Ditto for the ladies!
Let’s be realistic and understand
that there is no magic wand that could transform us to our liking, pronto! Only
hard work and diligence will reward us with brand new selves. We could enlist
the help and encouragement of our closest ones to propel us towards the stars.
Sunanda decided to start investing
a reasonable amount in a systematic investment plan, every month. Then she
opted for life insurance on her life as well as her children’s lives. She
capitalized on the opportunity to be a Visiting Faculty and started saving the
remuneration received in a recurring account. She cut down her unwanted
expenditure drastically. She shunned all her unpleasant relatives and made it
amply clear to them that they could mind their own business! She became more
aware of unscrupulous people out to take her for a ride and gradually became wise
enough to tell them off diplomatically.
Be steadfast in our endeavors: A job well-begun is already
half-done, as someone has rightly said. But leaving it half-way through is just
not done! Let’s not flit from one task to the other without doing it properly.
Just as we would finish the soup, then move to the main course and then to the
dessert, in a proper meal, let’s do full justice to each of our tasks. Thus
job-satisfaction would be optimum and we would feel more enthusiastic about the
next task on hand. Achievements always spur us onwards to greater achievements.
Success begets success!
In Sunanda’s case, none of the
tasks that she had set out to do were very easy. Sometimes she defaulted on her
premium payments or made a big purchase. Her husband had to be pursued
relentlessly for the alimony and ultimately relented. Unwanted people still
tried to make life miserable for her. But as she focused on the larger picture
and plodded on, she could achieve all her goals with determination and grit.
Pat our backs for triumphs: Once we learn to be self-motivated,
nothing or no one can stop us from achieving what we’ve set out to do. We could
treat ourselves to small or big well-deserved rewards for our successes and
bask in our glorious triumphs.
Our role-model Sunanda had
successfully triumphed against all seemingly insurmountable odds and emerged a
winner. Now she had become a more able, active and self-reliant person, a woman
of the world, ready to take on anything and everything! She was very proud of
herself now.
If Sunanda could do it, why can’t
we? If we set our hearts on a make-over this year, rest assured, nothing will
stop us. We must only emerge from our self-imposed cocoons and soar high like
the beautiful butterflies!
THE END
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The copyright of this article is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.
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