Let’s welcome the new year of 2017 with warmth, grace and positive energy. Many people come up with a new year resolution and set up some new goals but often have difficulties achieving them. This is because the reality of life is often different from what we plan and it is common that we get easily distracted by things we encounter in our journey, rather than focusing on our plan.

In some ways it is good to be spontaneous and get lost in the moment of each experience of our journey without being tied down to specific tasks set in the plan. However, it is important to set goals and to focus on our path or direction without forgetting to enjoy the moment during the journey itself.

To enjoy our journey, it is important that we know our passion so we can set our goals in accordance with what we love, not for the sake of recognition or financial gain, which is  often what we tend to be driven by, because of the perception of the society. Our society seems to perceive or measure one’s success by an achievement of status or financial position, lacking value on spiritual gain such as contentment, happiness and the enjoyment of the journey.

To succeed in achieving our goals, we need to stay motivated. To stay motivated constantly and consistently, there are certain rituals we need to do on a daily basis and to be able to do those rituals, we need self-discipline. To develop self-discipline, we need to develop certain habits. Below are a few things we can do in our day-to-day life to help us stay motivated. Most of all, remember to enjoy the journey everyday.

1. Get to know the purpose of your own life.
2. Set some kind of goals and time frames when you would like to achieve them.
3. Have ‘a daily to do list’. It does not have to be formal or rigid, just some kind of a list you can quickly write in our phone or diary. It helps remembering them if you write them down. Set an approximate time when you plan to do each activity on the day. Be realistic and do not have too many activities on your list. In fact, include your break, rest, sleep and meal times.
4. Develop a habit of getting out of bed early each morning, starting with a large glass of water and some healthy breakfast which includes carb, protein and fruit.
5. To get up early in the morning, you need to develop a habit of going to bed early enough to give you 7-8 sleep each night.
6. Do a 30 minute exercise daily, even if it is only a brisk walk.
7. Drink a total of 3 litres of water everyday excluding tea or coffee.
8. Be excited about starting your day no matter what you need to do.
9. Acknowledge and greet others with friendly genuine gesture.
10. Smile and be grateful for what you have now without anticipating too much of the unknown.
11. Give, love and help others more but expect nothing, as the gifts due to you will come anyway.
12. Whilst we must be trustworthy, be aware that not every single individual is actually trustworthy. So watch your back without being judgmental or fearful.

Try to build up these rituals this year and see how you go. Review each day, week and/or month and make a note how much more you can achieve once these rituals become habits. You would be surprise to see the results.

All the best and keep smlling. We are lucky to be alive, to be able to read information like this, to be able to apply the theory and to turn our dreams into reality.