Is has been 18 days since we started the New Year and trust me, excitement and determination is still rife. But don’t they always do each year? Many have started implementing their New Year’s resolutions and seem undeterred.
Go to any gym near you. For the regulars, news faces have flooded arenas and pumping iron to build muscle for a makeover in 2026. Everyone wants a younger, toned, shaped or tough-looking body to impress or simply feel good. What better time to start than the New Year so that mid-way, results should be evident. Trainers too are fired up, eager to impress new comers and improve their resumes with clients’ success stories.
Businesspersons are ready to maximise profits so that come mid-year, they should brag about their improved stories. The beginning of the year is when they will work hard to build momentum for a better story at the end of the year.
Some have started serving for Easter and festive holidays. Some are planning to start families and are serving for pregnancy and child birth expenses, including children’s education. Indeed, planning is prudent and saves time and money.
But there is something about New Year’s resolutions. They never last and are aborted even before mid-way. Why? Because change is about mindset overhaul, not just flowing with new months on a calendar. It is not just about what a new year brings or what is expected of individuals. It’s about perceptions which are driven by the inner man. The New Year is nothing, but a circumstance that can change willy nilly. But with a mindset change, it becomes a foundation that does not easy shake or break, cementing an unbreakable chain reaction.
Resolutions become a viscous cycle of beginnings and aborted ends because they are built on hype. Everyone wants to do them, some even competing with others. In the long run, we literally force things on ourselves just to fit it. If you ask a fitness fanatic or trainer, exercise is a lifestyle that can start at any point in time. A mindset change prompts one to decide to lose weight, build stronger muscles to simply stay fit without losing any fat. This cannot come because the calendar has reverted to January. That decision comes from within an individual, flowing through to many years to come.
That vibrant business or those savings started at one particular time when someone decided they needed to improve their lives. It was not done in the heat of the moment. So, don’t be surprised when things change within two weeks or two months. It is just in the nature of New Year’s resolutions. They die before they mature. Few people will see to their end.
I am not against change or particular times to initiate them. Just try implementing changes anytime within the year and not necessarily tying yourselves to resolutions. Start when the mind has decided, not by a calendar.
