Right now, as Ethiopian New Year is approaching, crafting personal and/or organizational New Year resolutions may preoccupy most Ethiopians. The real issue right now is whether we have questioned the validity, authenticity, and effectiveness of our resolutions consciously and productively. Are the resolutions good enough to keep us motivated the whole year? Are they aligned with our overall life-time and/or long term plans? Do they really contribute for the bigger picture, that bigger picture being our fulfillment in life? And many more questions.

I remember my New Year resolutions and some of my friends. Most of them were to do with our immediate concerns and aspirations. Though some of them were great for that season of our life, most of those resolutions were purposeless and kind of wish-lists, at least mine. Should we be apologetic about what happened in the past? I don’t think so but we should learn from the past and develop better resolutions consciously and purposefully.

If our resolutions were just for the sake of writing, saying, and then forgetting where we put them in the rest of the year and/or never questioned their fulfillment at the end of the year and before we craft another one, then this year is the right time to change that trend. The real question is how can we draft a New Year resolution that motivates us to do some valuable and measureable things that could move us a little closer to our life time dream and/or long term plan? That is the key!

Note that this reminder doesn’t seek to advocate uniform resolutions for all of us. We are diverse in personality so are our aspirations and dreams. Thus, there are many ways each of us approach to make our resolutions contribute towards our life-time and long term plans but there may be some wisdoms we could share one another. I am forwarding mine and would be glad to hear yours.

The very starting point towards this journey of developing New Year Resolution should be revising our life time dream/vision (if you don’t have one, what an opportunity to draft one this year!) so that we could be able to see what decisions and activities we make this year could help us add value to it. As you know, vision is not necessarily a fixed destination; rather, it is being in a particular state whether that state we dream about is to become a leader, a business person, a researcher, a soldier, a teacher, or a politician, etc. As far as we are in that state and walking on that road, we are living our dream; we should not wait until we reach the climax of that state and the end of the road. We shouldn’t wait to enjoy our life until we become a leadership expert, a millionaire, a Nobel Prize winning scientist, a General, a Principal or a president.  We can simplify the journey towards our dreamland this way: identify the road it takes us there, develop skill-sets that help us become better on that thing we dream about, form friendships that nurture us, cut-off things that drag us behind, and so on.

Towards that end, what can we do the coming year that contribute towards that goal is the real question. Should we go to school? Should we start small business? Should we start writing something? Should we start making daily exercise? Should we change job? Should we quit that unproductive relationship? Should we reduce over sleeping? Should we join a particular club? Should we make u-turn from a path that may lead us to a dead-end? Should we take an exit from that wrong route? Should we rejoin the right track leaving the erroneous one? On and On….

In conclusion, I encourage you- depending upon your stage in life and where you would like to go, to take this season a wonderful chance to make a turn around through effective, measurable, and realistic New Year resolution. This is a good juncture to seat down and craft resolutions that contribute and add values towards your life-time and long-term goals. This is an opportunity to identify areas you need to change, take risk, etc. Don’t forget to revisit them, at least quarterly, which in turn gives you a chance to monitor your progress, make changes on time if required, and so on.

Happy Ethiopian New Year!