2024: A Time to Reflect, A Time To Plan
Five principles to help you have a productive and successful Year.
New year: a time to reflect. Reflect on your achievements, failures, and draw the lessons learnt. More importantly, it’s usually a time to plan. This is the ideal time for setting goals for a better future.
That being said, looking back at 2023, if there is a disparity between where you had intended to be and where you ended up, then you’ll agree that if you had consistently done what you had resolved to do last year, you would now be in a way better place financially, emotionally and in any other success metric you had outlined.
The lack of discipline is what yielded the unfavorable results.
You are not where you desired to be but rather you are where you deserve to be, based on your effort and commitment.
Now, this does not apply to everyone. I understand that there are those who genuinely gave it their best and things still didn’t go their way. If you are one of these, don’t give up. However, the majority are living a life based on the decisions they made in previous years and all through 2023.
Below are five principles I would like you to keep in mind as you set up your disciplines and goals for the year. If you use these principles well, you’re bound to have a more productive year.
1. Pareto Principle
20% of the input or activities in any circumstances account for 80% of the output or results.
This is a powerful principle that enforces efficiency. So, for better results, all you need to do is identify the activities that belong to the vital 20%, then invest your time, energy, and resources into them. Focus on that 20% because it’s responsible for the life you are living right now. If you do so this year, you will get better results in whatever it is that you are venturing into.
Moreover, inadvertently, you’ll find out that you have more time on your hands. You’ll suffer less burnouts compared to when you were attempting to take care of the whole 100% input. This gives you more time to explore other things like your hobbies and your passion. As a result, you’re more likely to achieve work life balance hence be a happier person experiencing higher quality of life. Try it out and let me know how that goes.
2. The Law of Averages
The outcomes of a random event will even out in a sample.
Think about it this way, if we were to carry out a series of coin tosses, the more times we flip the coin the more the overall results will be 50% heads and 50% tails. This is to say that, with everything you do, the probability of success and failure evens out with every trial. Hence if you have been experiencing failure, keep at it and keep improving and soon enough you’re likely to hit your first win. So, your rate of success is directly proportional to your effort, and consistency.
When it comes to this principle, you’ll need to do something different this year to succeed. Don’t just do everything you can, thinking it will boost your odds, Nuh uh! use Pareto’s principle in this. Once you have identified your vital activities, (the 20%), take massive action on that, (only that). This will efficiently improve your odds of succeeding in your endeavors making you a prolific person this year.
“Work smarter then harder.”
3. The Law of Diminishing Intent
The longer you wait to act, the less likely you are to take that action.
We usually intend to get better, go to the gym, and start new habits at the beginning of each year, but then we procrastinate. As soon as we start putting off the implementation, the will to do it becomes less and less. Later, you come to realize that it’s June and you still haven’t started going to the gym.
The ideal time for you to start working on your goal’s is now. The more you procrastinate, the less your chances of doing it. Soon enough you’ll find yourself in December 2024 with a list of goals and yet no milestones realized. Start now. Act now.
“The best time to act is when the idea is hot, and the emotions are strong.” Jim Rohn.
4. Newton’s Third Law of Motion, and The Law of Inertia.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
When two objects collide, they exert forces on each other that are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
Away from physics, what you need to understand is that, for everything you intend to do, expect resistance and opposition in equal measure. As you try to succeed in life, understand that there are forces that are working against you as well to get you not to succeed. When you try to change, you’ll face resistance to change.
So why should you try?
This is where inertia comes in.
(The tendency of an object to maintain its state of motion or rest)
When a bowling ball strikes the pins, they both exert equal forces on each other, but only the pins are sent flying, the ball keeps on moving in the same direction.
Why?
The ball has gathered enough inertia from its weight and the momentum it has built through the distance it has covered. The ball’s inertia overcomes that of the of the pins since their inertia is lower.
In life, strive to build inertia as you move towards your goals. You’ll achieve this through consistency which will create strong habits. Make your habits so strong, that when you encounter outside forces that might want to stop your motion, e.g., friends, distractions etc.… your desire to push forward will be greater than their desire to stop you.
Be the bowling ball this year, not the pin.
5. The law of attraction
The energy of your thoughts manifests your life experiences.
What you consistently think about will at some point influence your life experience. Hence positive thoughts yield positive experiences while the vice versa is also true.
As you work on your goals leveraging all the principles above, take time to set your mind right. Remember that faith without action is dead. As you hope to realize your goals, you need to start dwelling in the possibility of achieving them. Think of how your life would be if you achieved all these goals, then start living that way to some extent.
Set yourself up to receive what you are working for. Train your mind to think of your future success and anticipate it instead of worrying about potential failures.
Think positive thoughts.
Take mitigative measures for any eventuality but plan for success and you shall receive it.
I wish all my readers a prolific and highly successful year, let 2024 be the year that you transform your life for the better.
All the best as you plan for it.
Yours truly,
GP.
