Ways to Improve Yourself in the New Year
1. Make a list of three areas you want to improve or goals you wish to achieve.
a. Create an Excel spreadsheet or something akin to it that describes the improvement goal. What items do you need to achieve your goal? For example, if it is paint the back fence, then list your needed items to complete it, such as paint scraper, sand paper, paint,(how much) etc. You might have to measure the fence. The back of the paint can oftens tells how much square feet the can will cover.) Talk to the sales person wherever you are buying your paint. Yes, it is OK to purchase the paint now, and store it in a place it won't freeze. Schedule this project on your calender, depending on your weather conditions. If it is Hawaii, you may be able to do this project the first weekend in February depending on the weather forecast, but if you live in Northern Germany, you may need to schedule it late June or early July. But schedule it.
b Give yourself time between projects. Some people need more time to recover than others. Some like to buzz right along starting a new project s soon as they finish the old one. Others need to reward themselves with lunch with a friend to celebrate their accomplishment. Do celebrate your tiny or big steps in accomplishing your three goals for the year!
c.Suppose it is a character building goal--like building a relationship with an unlovely or needy person. Do the same thing. Work out what you will do. Should you get a support buddy to help you? Many tasks are often better handled with two people, not just one including dealing with "tank" people. We all know "tanks." They sit in one place and just send round after round of ugliness toward anyone in their proximity saying ugly things,, making unkind remarks, leaving sadness and sorrow in their path daily, refusing any part of being a team player. Realize these people are they way they are for some unknown reason to you. Perhaps, they don't know how to fit in.
d.Make a plan that includes things like take a Saturday course at a community college that deals with living with different or difficult personalities. Get online and read what you can to see how to succeed in these kinds of relationships. Can one succeed with difficult people? Some professionals say to continue only if they respond. Others say continue only until you have had your fill. I think it must depend on why you are trying to be a friend to this person. Some will warm up, given the fact they think you truly do want to be, at least, professionally courteous to them while others have no desire to be courteous or professional. Give yourself a starting and ending time. Give it your best shot for, say, three months. Re-evaluate and decide whether the time you put in was worth it.
2. Eat a lot of chocolate and share a lot of chocolate.
It seems some people are saying there might be a shortage by 2020, so you had best get eating all the chocolate you can. But here's the fun part. Everytime you buy a candy bar for yourself, buy two! Be sure you share with someone else your fun and accomplishment. It will make both of you laugh. Sometimes you will want to give it to a friend. Sometimes, you will want to share it with someone you know is having a bad day, but share it.
Check it out!
Is there a chocolate shortage on the way? www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/11/17/chocolate-shortage-2020/19167089/
3.Read a book from the Holy Bible.
For example, St. John tells the story of the life and resurrection of Jesus, or Esther tells the story of how a young woman from the king's harem becomes queen and risks her life to save her people. Somehow, those stories give a different slant to how we see and think after we read them. I am not sure how it works except I believe the Bible to be the words of God. There is Ruth who is an alien in a strange land who works to feed her mother-in-law, and story of David, a shrewd military man who must outsmart the king in order to escape with his life. Oh! Did I tell you the king is his father-in-law? Yes! Just like those day-to-day television shows.
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| Queen Esther pointing out Hamaan. by Ernest Norman (public dom.) |
4. Volunteer at a place of your choice.
Go to a nursing home and listen to old people tell you their life's story. Many of them will fascinate and enthrall you and even make you laugh. At the request of a friend, I remember taking a lady for an application to live in a retirement home. She told me her story, and part of it was, she had been a Las Vegas show girl. How about the gentleman I met who had been aboard a ship in Pearl Harbor the morning the Japanese rained fire from heaven down on the United States'Navy which was moored there. Oh, yes! You will get an education and be richer than whatever you invest. But suppose you are not an "old people person." Perhaps, you can volunteer at the local food pantry on Saturdays. Maybe you can join "Big Brother" or "Big Sisters" and teach a child to make cookies or dribble a basketball ball.
5. Investigate faith this year like you would a business venture.
Spend a certain amount of Sundays or Saturdays if you choose a synagogue and check it out. Be serious about it. Keep looking until you find what you are looking for--you will not be disappointed. But remember you may be challenged to show God a little patience. You have been running things your way. It may be difficult at first to see things His way. Join a small group wherever you choose to worship. Give God a chance by giving the people there a chance. They are looking for answers, too.
Keep a little journal. Give each of these suggestions a section of your notebook. Write your reflections and when 2016 rolls around, you will be a different person. Better yet, enlist someone else to do the same, and have a "Share Party" on New Year's Eve of next year.
Happy New Year! And Great Adventuring!
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