Let’s look back and learn some lessons

We are now spending the last few days of the year 2016, during which, we played different roles and collected a lot of experiences by succeeding as well as failing at what we were doing. It is based on the majority of good or bad stories that we had to experience. Accordingly, the year may be good for some and bad for others. Time, over which we have no control, always goes by. We are all ready to welcome a new calendar with plenty of fresh expectations by setting New Year’s resolutions. People are determined to achieve new targets taking their lives forward. Therefore, you are required to grasp the mistakes and achievements by getting brainwashed to have fresh thoughts that will change life – not only yours but also others’ around you.

These days, you must spend your time thinking of creating things that will add value to your life while sharpening your creativity. New strategies have to be put into practice for attaining newly set targets in competitive ways. We are a nation that boasts of history and take a negligible number of lessons for shaping the future. This at least has to be different when it comes to the individual level. As said by Socrates, people learn from the womb to the tomb. So, let’s look back and 
learn lessons. 

Employment
Even if you highly performed at your current employment, you might not be promoted or rewarded for that, making you sad and disillusioned at your organisation. Change your thoughts and start selling yourself, so that you will get your next promotion. You might be really working hard but missing many things needed to get promoted and rewarded. What about your PR skills at the workplace? Even though your connections with subordinates and peers could be healthy, they are not the ones that take decisions on you. Hence, you must be concerned on your relations with superiors as well. Find out ways to work smart but not so hard. That’s only one point at which you have to look back and learn lessons.

The routine for many people has been that they get up early, go to work, pay their bills at the end of the month and again go to work. You might have been doing this more or less for a long time. This is actually just for survival, not for sustainability. 

One of the grievances made by almost every professional or an employee is that the salary or wage they get is not enough at all and doesn’t resemble with their commitments. Therefore, you make next year the year of financial independence with options. You might have experienced how uncomfortable you are when you do not have options and get restricted to one thing. It is with financial independence that you are provided with a lot of opportunities, which really allow you to enjoy your life.

In the new year you may want to save some money and purchase a new car or build a house. However, keep those things aside for a while and think wisely. You ought to try to increase your assets, which generate cash that can be used for buying the above-mentioned list of goods. Hence, what is suggested is, you raise your asset base regardless of your employment, instead of creating just liabilities such as a car taken on a lease and consumer durables taken on a loan, which take the income out of your pocket, impoverishing you in the long run.

 
Family
Next year, the most important thing that you must not forget by being busy is you have a family that is in dire need of your affection, care and protection. If you underperform at your current employment, you will be sacked and replaced by a new employee. Nevertheless, if you miss your family members, you will be replaced by no one. You might be already a great dad or mum, who always prioritizes family, but next year, try to go an extra mile in that journey, strengthening relations with the family members. 

Spend these few days with your family, convincing that you really take care of them. Be humble to ask your mistakes at home because it is your family members who know about you well other than you. Most probably, mistakes that they point out or suggestions that they make are more accurate and genuine than the ones pointed out by outsiders. Therefore, take them as a mirror to look at yourself. 

The future 
The future is always uncertain. Consequently, what is recommended is that you live at present rather than dwelling on the past or unnecessarily planning on the future, as the past or the future is totally out of your control. You always make attempts to take the control of the future through the new strategies made based on past lessons. The present time is the most important because all those new strategies have to be put into action at the moment. 

You are an outcome of what you did in the past. If so, you will be an outcome of what you are doing at present. By the end of next year, if you want to be a good employee, a financially independent person, a responsible citizen, above all, a great mum or dad, concentrate on what you are doing at present and do your best for it. 

Be a good disciple of your religion because this is an era that requires people who follow their religion by heart. As people gradually get away from their religions, all the tragedies are possible. When looking back, what we have seen is that people make troubles and even kill others so as to protect their religions but hesitate to practice their religions’ teachings. 

Just look back with a different perspective and learn lessons from the past, so that the wrongs happened will not reoccur and good things will repeat. I wish all of you a very happy new year and courage to put all your good plans into practice. 

(Amila Muthukutti is a Business Executive employed by a leading company in Sri Lanka. He can be reached at [email protected])