#212 To the Winds I Cast Thee...New Years

How often have I long to make a decision to do something different when New Years rolled around?  How many times have you done the same.  Useless resolutions, that we make and then as soon as the oppoprtunity comes around we do nothing.  Except make another useless resolutiion, when New Years rolls around again.  We're just hamsters on a wheel, running but going nowhere.

How many times have you said you would stop smoking, stop eating fattening foods, stop drinking, go to the gym, get a better job, find the person of your dreams, play an instrument, go back to school, reunite with old friends or lost loves?  How many times are you going to fail to live up to your expectations

The truth is, we make these resolutions because we feel that New Years is the perfect starting point.  It's gives you a fixed point in time to make a decision to do something different.  It seems like the perfect time.  A New Year...but it's not.  A New Year doesn't mean a damn thing.

Not. A. Single. Damn. Thing.

If you want to improve your life.  If you want to make changes in your life, don't wait for the Jan 1st.  Start now.  Don't wait, do it now.  Don't hesitate, do it now.  Find the time to do what you need to do and do it now.  Waiting puts off the time that you have, and people often forget that they only have so much time in this life.  Waiting for the right time, the right place or the right opportunity is waiting to not be able to do something.

There is a saying that goes "Persistence Favors the Strong, but the Strong favor Persistence."

Don't pause, don't wait, don't put it off.  When the opportunity becomes available, jump on it.  Even when it doesn't, go out and find it.  Do whatever you must to reach your goals.  Don't wait for a single day to make the changes you need to make.  Make them now.  You can do it.

I'll even give you an example.

This is my what I've done this year list.
Designed a game that reached the prototype stage
Learned to play a guitar.
Took college courses online
Learned to make music.
Wrote several short stories
Went back to the gym
Lost weight
Stopped smoking.
Became better at my job.
Crossed off several items on bucket or fuck it list
Obtained an internet domain
Learned to write Haiku
Taught myself to draw
Learned Western Philosophy

These are just the things that I've done in a single year.  Imagine what I can do with a clear plan.  Imagine what you could do with one.  All it takes is commitment and motivation and that comes from within, but that doesn't come from a special date, unless you give yourself one to acocmplish your goals.

I haven't been too hard on you, because I want you all to succeed in whatever goals you've setup for yourself.  So in closing as the year draws to an end I say this.

To the winds I cast
Thy fears, doubts and desires
To never see them.

Happy New Years...and I'll see you in the future.

-Kenan Brack