First things first…
“Wishing you all a very happy 2018 & a year full of wishes coming true!
And a big, heartfelt thanks for allowing me to be a part of your life, by giving your time and attention (two of your most important resources) to my work. I truly appreciate this and will always strive to be worthy of this attention.
Now, let me get to the reason, why I am writing this post. With every new year comes new year resolutions, goals and aspirations to make the coming year, the best year ever. There are many people who have written a lot about how to set goals or resolutions and how to go about achieving them. I would like to share my thoughts on the different kinds of goals or resolutions that we could aspire for.
I believe that in order for us to really have an impact and lead a life which is balanced and truly successful & happy, we need to focus on preparing to be the best version of ourselves in 6 different areas of our life:
Physical:
Without good health, everything else seems not so good after all. So, it is important that we take good care of our health. One simple thing that we can do that can have a significant effect on our health is to move – any kind of movement can help. Some of us could go for a walk everyday, some of us can do exercises in the gym, some can look at Yoga, some could decide to dance to music or just go for a run. Irrespective of what we do, it is important that we make improving our health a top priority and keep it at the forefront of our attention.
Intellectual:
It is important for everyone of us to grow intellectually. We can do this by learning new skills, learning about new cultures, thinking, philosophy. A simple way to continue to grow intellectually is by reading interesting books, learning new languages or even talking and learning from people whom we generally dont get to meet too often.
Emotional:
We are inherently a social race. It is important for us to belong to a community and have strong relationships both in home, at work and in the community that we live in. It is important that we identify that our emotional energies are a very important source of our happiness and joy. It is important that we identify the most important people in our lives (at home, work and in the community) and decide to find ways to strengthen our relationships with them. It could be as simple as sharing our time, attention and feelings with them or even simpler is to give them the gift of our full attention whenever we are with them.
Spiritual:
Almost all religions suggest that we go on a spiritual journey. I strongly believe from my experience that such a journey is important as it improves our understanding of what we are doing here in this life and makes us wiser. Each one of us can decide what kind of a spiritual journey that we would like to go on. It could be religious or not. It could be as simple as thinking about spirituality or even just deciding to help people whenever and however possible. Displaying kindness and helping others without any expectation of returns could by itself be a start to a larger spiritual journey.
Financial:
We live in a capitalistic world and it is important to be successful financially. All said and done, we do need financial stability and growth in order to have the peace in our lives to pursue everything else. This is like oxygen, we dont notice it until we start missing it. Only thing is that we need to understand that beyond a certain limit, having more of it is of no further use to us and we can benefit from sharing with people who truly need it more than us.
Creative:
All said and done, being able to create something is a great feeling. I can tell that from experience. I think everyone of us is inherently creative, what we need to do is to express our creativity, in some form or factor. It can be in the form of writing, drawing, cooking, designing, speaking, singing, dancing, or any other form of creative expression.
In Conclusion:
When we are looking to becoming the best version of ourselves starting over the next 12 months, I believe that we need to think about these 6 dimensions around which we can continue to improve ourselves.
One way that we can look to continue to work on ourselves without having to depend on our self-discipline is by employing the very strategies that marketers employ to get us to do their bidding – Behavioral design. We can start to understand this by watching the Nobel lecture by Richard Thaler, who happened to win a Nobel price for his work on behavioural economics.
The entire lecture is available here.
I would like to wish you a year full of discovering self, what makes us tick and starting the journey of becoming the best versions of ourselves.
