Setting Your Sights on the New Year
By Robert L. Thomas Jr.
Happy New Year! This is the phrase screamed out all across the country after we counted down the minutes until the iconic ball dropped in Times Square to celebrate the transition to 2024.
For many of us, this is the time to make resolutions and commit to making a positive change in our lives. Sometimes we accomplish these goals; sometimes we get close; and sometimes we fail to meet them due to unforeseen circumstances.
Now, just because you didn’t fulfill a goal last year doesn’t mean you have to cast it aside and make a new one for this year. You can always bring that goal back and continue to work on it because it’s your own personal goal. And we all know personal goals can sometimes take longer than we anticipate.
One way to ensure we accomplish our goals is by keeping ourselves motivated. Motivation is the key to doing anything in our lives and to making our goals and ambitions a success. But how do we all stay motivated? I’d like to first look at what the word means.
According to Oxford Languages, motivation is “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.”
Just as the definition describes, you can have many different factors that keep you motivated. For example, your desire to volunteer for an organization can be driven by the feeling of helping others, or it can also be driven by what the organization has done for you throughout the years. Or maybe it’s the social aspect of getting together with others who have similar experiences and camaraderie.
As for me, I’m motivated by the fact that the Creator kept me here after my catastrophic injury and belief that his/her plan for me wasn’t done. If I can be an inspiration to my grandchildren and others I encounter who feel as though they can’t achieve their goals, I want to help them see they can. Living with a disability allows all of us to think creatively when accomplishing things in our lives, and we can do things in remarkable and inspirational ways.
Remember, everyone isn’t going to be fueled by the same factors. You just have to find what encourages and inspires you to keep moving forward toward your goal.
So, I say to you, if you believe that a resolution is right for you this new year, set that goal, stay focused and make sure to keep yourself motivated, allowing you to turn those goals into accomplishments.
