Resolution Don't Work But This Will
Hello everyone! Wishing you all a very happy new year. I've been quite busy lately, almost dead for some reason! This message is for those who are genuinely planning to accomplish something this year and for those contemplating the start of a new journey. Every year during my school days, I used to make resolutions, but for some reason, they never seemed to work. The motivation to do something simply fades away. It’s a pattern you will notice everywhere, in all aspects of life. People with money problems start to hate their jobs once they find one, people once in love start to despise their partner, people once determined become lazy, and people once dreaming about changing the world or starting a business are now far lost in their lives. It’s really difficult to keep going every day, to keep giving the same amount of effort, to keep loving in the same fashion, and to keep dreaming. Nevertheless, we continue to wish for the best things in life.
Motivation alone will not sustain you every day, and you can't replenish your motivation solely by drawing inspiration from the stories of others. Nothing will inspire you more than your own story. There's no need to continually dream of a life someone else is living, as there will always be someone who has more than you, no matter where you are. You need a reason to keep going and consistently doing the same boring thing you are doing to achieve whatever you are working on.
The only thing I believe in is consistency. Visualize the way you want to live, be definite and determine its specifics, calculate the amount of effort per day you are willing to give, and do the same thing every day. You don’t need to disrupt your sleep cycle, compromise your health, or sacrifice your happiness. Just commit to an equal amount of effort every day. Results may not be immediately visible — it might take days, months, or even years. However, you need to maintain a structured life throughout. Choose something you're willing to do every day for the rest of your life. After some time, you'll notice the effects. Consistency yields exponential returns, not only in terms of success but also in overall happiness.
We all tend to lose motivation and interest in things; it's a common human trait. This tendency stems from our innate desire for novelty (newness). Biologically, our brains are wired to seek new experiences and rewards. However, if you can manage to control your brain, it will adapt and align itself with your actions.
But who will come to remind you to keep doing the same thing every day? To maintain my consistency, I read paragraphs from the book 'Meditations,' which I always keep beside my pillow. Whenever I start to lose my energy or interest, I turn to these words. So, my message to you is, if you are genuinely planning to get started and accomplish something this year, make it a habit to read these words by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius:
At break of day, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready to mind:
'I am getting up for a man's work. Do I still then resent it, if I am going out to do what I was born for, the purpose for which I was brought into the world? Or was I created to wrap myself in blankets and keep warm?' 'But this is more pleasant.' Were you then born for pleasure - all for feeling, not for action? Can you not see plants, birds, ants, spiders, bees all doing their own work, each helping in their own way to order the world? And then you do not want to do the work of a human being - you do not hurry to the demands of your own nature.
'But one needs rest too.' One does indeed: I agree. But nature has set limits to this too, just as it has to eating and drinking, and yet you go beyond these limits, beyond what you need. Not in your actions, though, not any longer: here you stay below your capability. The point is that you do not love yourself - otherwise you would love both your own nature and her purpose for you. Other men love their own pursuit and absorb themselves in its performance to the exclusion of bath and food: but you have less regard for your own nature than the smith has for his metal-work, the dancer for his dancing, the money-grubber for his money, the exhibitionist for his little moment of fame. Yet these people, when impassioned, give up food and sleep for the promotion of their pursuits: and you think social action less important, less worthy of effort?
- Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
They cannot admire you for intellect. Granted - but there are many other qualities of which you cannot say, 'but that is not the way I am made'. So display those virtues which are wholly in your power - integrity, dignity, hard work, self-denial, contentment, frugality, kindness, independence, simplicity, discretion, magnanimity. Do you not see how many virtues you can already display without any excuse of lack of talent or aptitude? And yet you are still content to lag behind. Or does the fact that you have no inborn talent oblige you to grumble, to scrimp, to toady, to blame your poor body, to suck up, to brag, to have your mind in such turmoil? No, by heaven, it does not! You could have got rid of all this long ago, and only be charged - if charge there is - with being rather slow and dull of comprehension. And yet even this can be worked on - unless you ignore or welcome your stupidity.
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.' No, you should rather say: 'It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, I can bear it without pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.' Because such a thing could have happened to any man, but not every man could have borne it without pain. So why see more misfortune in the event than good fortune in your ability to bear it? Or in general would you call anything a misfortune for a man which is not a deviation from man's nature? Or anything a deviation from man's nature which is not contrary to the purpose of his nature? Well, then. You have learnt what that purpose is. Can there be anything, then, in this happening which prevents you being just, high-minded, self-controlled, intelligent, judicious, truthful, honourable and free - or any other of those attributes whose combination is the fulfilment of man's proper nature? So in all future events which might induce sadness remember to call on this principle: 'this is no misfortune, but to bear it true to yourself is good fortune.'
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
He who fears death fears either unconsciousness or another sort of consciousness.
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Good luck!!
- Elixir