This goes out to my poor students...

Hello, my fair students. Holidays abound, homework is few and you are halfway through. Now is both a time to truly settle into the break and wish that it was longer. It is also a period where some of you may, perhaps, be in the habit of making New Year Resolutions.

For the few of us, we can be proud to say that we have succeeded in accomplishing what we sought to do. For the rest, we would have probably failed to accomplish the cumulative resolutions from 5 years ago.

Fear not! I have compiled a list of...

1. Do it “just cuz everyone’s doing it”.

Ever heard of the term “peer pressure”?

Yeah, you probably don’t need to hear about it to know what it is. You’ve probably faced some level of it. For example, when you totally love One Direction and everyone is hating on them, and you’re forced to tell everyone else how much you hate them even when you don’t. It’s pretty messed up, I know.

Take that repressed love for One Direction and multiply it by, according to some obscure human population count, a thousand times. That would probably be the pressure you’d feel with regard to New Year Resolutions, if you’re even into that kind of thing.

Love it or hate it, the purpose of making resolutions is to make a positive change in your life. The prospect of having some form of power and control over your own life, which you DO have, is exciting but calm your tits. Don’t do it out of impulse.

Take a step back and think: Do I ACTUALLY need to make a positive change in something?

Don’t do it just because everyone says you should or because of that shiny disco ball at the party inspiring you.

2. Do it out of regret that you didn’t do your previous resolutions.

How many of us are still trying to clear our backlog of New Year Resolutions from five years ago? It probably goes along the lines of “I’ll clean my room more”, “I’ll exercise” or “I’ll study harder”. These are definitely good resolutions to make as a student. One can never say no to a cleaner, fitter and hardworking student.

However, how many of us make these non-committal resolutions, fail to accomplish them and regret them? Then, we make the exact same resolutions, give up halfway and repeat the following year.

It’s a real vicious cycle.

Look ahead. Not back. Yeah, you’ve failed in completing your resolutions this year. Now, take a look at what exactly caused you to fail in your resolutions and make a specific resolution to target that root issue.

3. Do it in a rush.

One major thing that causes us to inadvertently fail in our resolutions is that we tend to get over-excited at the prospect of making a change and settling for any resolution that sounds good.

Fast? Yes.

Effective? No.

Again, take a step back and figure out what exactly is important to you for the long haul. Next, figure out what can be achieved to bring yourself closer to that goal within the year. Then, think about what exactly you need to do to achieve your objectives.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

4. Make a gazillion resolutions.

Similar to point 3, most of us don’t just love settling for first few things we can think of. We Singaporeans love the best and we love collecting all the good things in the world. When it comes down to it, there sure are a whole lot of good things that we can resolve to achieve in the world.

We end up making many resolutions to achieve within the year itself.

Now, think about it. In each year, how many of these resolutions have you managed to ACTUALLY complete? Stick to one or a few that you can actually achieve. It’s better to make one and complete it successfully than to make a hundred and half-ass it all.

5. Make it out-of-the-world.

Cuz you’ll need to be able to fly out of the world to achieve it.

The reason why it’s called “out-of-the-world” is because it’s something that’s perceived to be near impossible or just plain impossible to achieve. Take time to study your strengths, weaknesses and character patterns. Take time to understand yourself and how you work.

From there, compare it all to your goals and how they could aid or impede your path towards your objective.

How are your strengths going to help you achieve your goal? What are your peak hours when it comes to a specific task or goal?

How are your weaknesses going to prevent you from achieving your goal? Are you, perhaps, a chronic procrastinator?

Consider it all and come up with a workable game plan. For example, all it sometimes takes is just a change in environment.

6. Make it miniscule.

Just because you shouldn’t have an out-of-the-world resolution doesn’t mean that you should go around making simplistic resolutions.

The point of one is to CHALLENGE yourself. Dare to dream big. Make a big, achievable plan. Break it down into bite-sized steps and spread it out over the year.

7. Make it all about me, myself and I.

Well, okay. Not really. You should be making goals to improve yourself but don’t set yourself up to fail. Keep yourself accountable to someone. It always helps to make someone you trust aware of your plans. Let him or her know of your game plan and talk it through. Get a second opinion and work out the kinks in the plan together. Get this person to hold you accountable to achieving your milestones.