You know the saying, “hindsight is 20/20”? Why not “foresight is 20/20”? I mean, of course we all can look back and say “Yes, I can clearly see that it happened, well.. because it happened!” and then reflect upon it. But why not use foresight or the use of a Compelling Vision in order to make sense of where we want to take our lives, reflect, measure and see what our progress is? That’s where to goals upwards to 20 years comes in with timelines attached.

So back to the title of this blog, what’s this talk about New Year’s Resolutions versus Dedications? What does Resolution mean exactly? What about Dedication? The definitions of both words according to Dictionary.com are:

Resolution

1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group
2. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
3. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
4. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

Dedication.

1. complete and wholehearted fidelity
2. a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose
3. a message that makes a pledge [syn: commitment]
4. a short message (as in a book or musical work or on a photograph) dedicating it to someone or something
5. the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action; “his long commitment to public service”; “they felt no loyalty to a losing team”

From the two definitions you just read, which feels more powerful? Which definition would you attach yourself to if you were to make a New Year’s Resolution versus a New Year’s Dedication will ultimately lead you to following through reaching your resolution? The resolution is more so being aware of a problem that you want to “resolve” and figuring out a course of action that you would embark upon, and having a mental state of “firmness of purpose”. But nowhere does it say anything about holding yourself accountable or “binding yourself both intellectually and emotionally to a course of action”. So when you involve and commit yourself to a Dedication on different dimensions and relate it to your own life and how it will benefit you, with enough reasons you can find a way to do justice to your Dedication.

So those were my thoughts with respect to using a Compelling Vision to where we want to go. So on to my New Year’s Dedications!

• Complete my improv training at The Second City and get into their prestigious Conservatory Program.
• Finish a full-marathon
• Sculpt my body just like Bruce Lee’s
• Wipe out my credit card debt and start on my OSAP debt
• Get a job in my field and get into the CMA Accelerated Program in order to fill in the gaps of Accounting knowledge that I haven’t retained through years.
• Give Marvel Comics a chance (I’m a DC comics fan
• See my eligibility for enrolling in a part-time degree in Sociology at UofT
• Read at least 30 more books on self-actualization

Keep in mind that each and every one of these Dedications is something that I’m truly passionate about. From my understanding with past changes to my life, you MUST be passionate in order to keep on going at whatever it is you’ve dedicated yourself to and never have failure be an excuse to not follow through.

If you start using any of these ideas and concepts, you’re well on your way when you JUST DO IT! So this year, instead of making a New Year’s Resolution, make a New Year’s DEDICATION.

I just got back from an awesome 45 minute jog for the first time in the cold with my new gear, tights and all, while listening to the Tony Robbin’s “Daily Magic” CD, where it entails starting off with “breath walking” which is supposed to walking to a count of “four-four”.

Walking to a count of “four-four” means you take four quick breaths through the nose and exhaling through your teeth making a “shhh” sound in four quick bursts. Each time you inhale, tap your index-finger to your thumb, second time would be tapping the thumb to the middle finger, third time for your ring fingers, then fourth would be your pinky finger to your thumb, and you would do it for each time you exhale and repeat. What this is supposed to do is that it brings you up to a state of mental alertness that engages all of your senses, so that you feel centered.

During this process, you’re cultivating a storm of positive emotions and energy, being gratitude and visualization. There’s nothing quite like it when you’re filled with these emotions. It helps you put things in perspective of what your grateful for, your goals and the purpose behind it, and perhaps re-aligning yourself with the purpose of your life or whatever it may be.

Finally, he encourages us to use incantations that you repeat to yourself in order to feel your inner strength from within you. One simple incantation or affirmation that is used widely is, “Every day in every way, I’m feeling stronger and stronger“. You can insert any word you want that is aligned with how you want to live your life. I insert, “more and more energized” in order to engrain the thought of me having an unlimited energy reservoir that will keep me going throughout the day.

It’s kind of funny how I didn’t really commit myself to running until I bought all the winter gear. And I hate wasting money.. so it’s a win-win-win-win situation for me. I’ll have the energy I need to take make the most out of my day, strengthen and expand my cardiovascular system, make the most out of the money I spent, and it will be one step towards completing a marathon, which happens to be a 1 year goal of mine.

With respect to commitment, I had a chat over coffee with a close friend of mine where we were talking about our motivations and goals. What my friend G had said was that unless you have a DEADLINE, you won’t have anything “pushing” or “pulling” you to move towards your goal.

Here’s a quote that I keep in the back of my head when it comes to goal setting:

“WHAT’S TALKED ABOUT IS A DREAM, WHAT’S ENVISIONED IS EXCITING, WHAT’S PLANNED BECOMES POSSIBLE, WHAT’S SCHEDULED IS REAL”

So when you actually book an appointment to see a trainer or schedule a block of time in your agenda to go running in the morning, you’re committed to it. This is with the pre-requisite that you WANT to move towards that goal and commit yourself fully to it, so that there’s no turning back and you’re now forced to push yourself to achieving that goal.