The Beginning of an End

Yet another New Year is just a week away and I can feel the vibe all around. Like all others, I am excited too; anxious to know what lies in store for me in the new year, what I would achieve, what dreams would come true and where I would be exactly one year from now. December is a month that is close to my heart, as is the case with most of you. It marks the beginning of an end, and signifies a lot of things that we all adore - celebrations, vacations, shopping season, winter and much more. It is that part of the year when the whole world is all set to celebrate and welcome the New Year. It is also that time of the year to retrospect and plan for the New Year. I have always wondered if we are more excited about the New Year that is coming or the year that has just passed, because sadly all the ‘New Year’ excitement seems to die out once the year begins. I guess the reason is that like all other things, it ceases to be ‘new‘, just a week after it began.  

That reminds me that last year too I had similar thoughts and just like now, I had enough time to pen down my resolutions for the then new year, 2013. But I’ve been so poor in living up to my resolutions that it was last touched the day it was made and I couldn’t find where I saved the file on my computer. Thanks to the Search button, I just ran a random search and managed to find the file I was looking for. If you thought I was kind of too disciplined or nerdy, let me tell you that it was my first attempt at putting down my resolutions in black and white, after having left school. It was just another attempt at killing time. But I realize that actually making a list of what you want to do next year and a quick appraisal of yourself in the past year goes a long way in boosting your spirit. After all, you don’t have to be employed by a company that has a sophisticated performance appraisal process to be able to appraise yourself.  All you need is a few moments to spare for yourself, ultimately in the best interests of none other than yourself.  

After having gone through my small list of resolutions for the Year 2013, I decided to close the loop by appraising myself. So I gave scores in a scale of 5 against each item in the list; and lo, I had the new list of resolutions for Year 2014 ready. It does sound boring and old-school style, but personally I feel it works. I just listed down what I felt were my accomplishments and shortcomings during the year, and I knew exactly what I had to work on next year. One thing I realized was that even though I had lost track of the document where I listed my resolutions, I had mentally been working towards it. “Why then waste time writing it down”, is what some of you might ask me now. ‘Just for the fun of it’ is my simple answer; though it means much more than that. It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I am able to place exactly what I wanted to do a year ago against where I stand in terms of it now. Does that sound like a self-report card? I have always believed and continue to believe that the best form of appraisal is to do it yourself. And you have to do it to know what I mean.

I won’t be taking more of your time; lest you be left with less time to make note of your resolutions.

Let’s wish and pray that the New Year brings lots of joy, prosperity and success in all our lives.

Let’s wish for happier days and more reasons to smile and make others smile.  

Let’s hope and wish to have experiences that will leave us cleverer and more worldly-wise than we are today.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

(If any of you have decided to list down your resolutions solely based on my suggestion, please do let me know. I’ll have one more accomplishment to add to my year 2013J)