Happy New Year!
It is a new year and the start of a new decade. Personally, the year 2019 was a very challenging year for me, but worthwhile in many aspects. I lived in Africa during the entire year. Although at least once, I may have asked myself what in the world was I thinking, I frankly wished I had done it earlier.
In 2020, I would like to share with you just a few tips that may help you to overcome challenges during this new decade. These pieces of advice will not help everyone, but the most important thing is that it helps at least one person who reads them to improve their lives in nondramatic ways. I am certainly not a charlatan, so this article isn’t one of those potions for success articles. It’s merely guidance for life improvement.
1. Your resolve to change starts today
I don’t make new year resolutions. To be honest, I don’t recall having made a new year resolution in any given new year. The reason isn’t that I think they’re bad. The intended objectives underlying new year resolutions are great. The issue that I have with new year resolutions is that it fundamentally gives a false sense of having control over time. Anything can happen, so why wait for a year to end before deciding to make changes or embark on a new adventure?
Any given time in one’s life is ideal to make a critical life-changing decision.
I suggest that you turn your new year resolutions into yearly reviews. Here, you review your accomplishments during the year and come up with concrete ways to make improvements. I think it’s subtly different than making grand and hot declarations that simply turn cold after a couple of weeks.
So, make it habit to perpetually review your behaviors, habits, goals, etc.
2. Find your internal motivation
What is it you aspire to become? At first, this may seem like a rather mundane question. But, when you begin getting into the details, it’s a really difficult question to answer. Most of us are only vaguely certain of what we want to become. This is fine but try harder to picture your future. I do really believe if people do this exercise, we’d start realizing that most people aren’t innately motivated by the accumulation of wealth.
Your dedication to getting a higher- paying job isn’t because you want to live in a big house. Your desire to become an entrepreneur isn’t because you desire to be wealthy enough to buy everything you want. These are simply appetites or wants that once met, can lose their luster. That’s why every culture has this saying that “money is never enough”. No, money is always enough- it’s our wants that are always greedy.
I think there’s a better way to approach this life’s purpose topic. Begin to see yourself as having acquired all the money you’ve ever wished to have in this world and all the toys that you can purchase with it. The money is yours (figuratively), so now what are you going to do in life? Think critically about it and you’ll start shaping your life’s purpose.
Don’t take my word for it. Haven’t you noticed? Towards the latter part of their lives, many successful business people devote an increasing amount of their time towards charity work or other activities that aren’t directly related to their wealth-building interests (at least it’s not the intended purpose). Health, education, politics, environment, youth, social justice, etc. You name it, they’re involved in those activities.
This observation doesn’t only apply to business people. Scientists, celebrities, educators, and other successful people follow a similar path. So may I suggest that you begin today to think about your end goal in life beyond wealth accumulation?
3. Learn to say no
In 2020 and beyond, learn to say no to some requests. Friends, family, colleagues, strangers, etc., will always ask you for favors. While it’s important to help people who reach out to you for help, remember that you simply cannot do everything for everyone. Prioritization is a prerequisite for long term success, so know your priorities and do your best to stick to them. Being a good samaritan to everyone will help you to become a good candidate for burnout and underachievement.
Remember this: you can’t do everything and do them well while at it. Especially nowadays when there is an overload of information from every angle. If you are not careful, you’ll find yourself scratching the surface of everything but not digging any hole for gold.
In high school, I didn’t have a schedule because no matter how many tasks I had to complete, it always seemed that I still had too much time. The elders I encountered told me that this will soon change, but I didn’t believe them. They were right. Progressively, I became more selective with whom I helped and the load of work it required to do so. I also no longer want to commit to helping and not being able to make it happen- it’s neither good for my reputation nor for whoever I intend to help.
4. Grow your network
I’ve gradually observed that in our world, it helps to have a strong network of people to rely on to get some things done. Hence, seek to grow your network instead of remaining content with the status quo. You don’t have to go out of your way to have 10,000 connections on LinkedIn. It’s fine if you can achieve this feat, but are you really building a relationship with 10,000 people?
I think the least painful way to grow your network is by leveraging your current group of friends and acquaintances to grow your network and diversify it (yes, managing your network of acquaintances is akin to portfolio management). This way, you develop meaningful bonds with people and can tap into this network to add more value to your life.
The help that your network can provide you with aren’t always magnificent, but they can be impactful in your life. Perhaps it’s a tip, a piece of advice, a warning, a casual observation. Whatever the help might be, it could be quite impactful for you.
Be mindful that building a valuable network requires time and effort. Sometimes and in some circumstances, it requires monetary commitment. Therefore, developing relationships with people is an investment and you must treat it like one. Hence, you must be tactful and not waste your time.
5. Prioritization
I know I’ve highlighted prioritization in section 3, but it is too important to not create a separate section for it.
Increasingly in our world, there is, in my opinion, an information overload. Content is being created from out of the blue by everyone and everyone is trying their best to convince you that you must consume their content.
When I say out of the blue, I do really mean everywhere. TV shows, ads, podcasts, influencers, work, Netflix, friends, parents, teachers, churches, written content, etc. The list is almost endless. My friends, even this piece I’m writing is a content that can overwhelm you. Consequently, prioritization becomes an important skill you must develop to stay afloat of the madness. Read up on section 3. Recognize your purpose in life and let that be the guiding principle to the activities you choose to undertake. By learning to prioritize, you’ll also learn to remain focused.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I’m not a charlatan who’s promising life-changing miracles, but hopefully, these tips can help someone, because they’ve certainly helped me to improve my life in some small ways. If everything you’ve read has gone over your head, remember this: whether you are running or walking, you are paying a price- anything worthwhile in this life has a price. But, you just may be paying a higher price by sitting and not doing anything. So, do something to improve your life in 2020. Happy new year!
