This Christmas Paul McCartney’s voice worked it’s way into my ears on more than one occasion… With Wings as he sang “simply having a wonderful Christmas time…” and of course when he sang “the pipes of peace” had me remembering the song’s wonderful video of men in trenches playing football together…
I love Paul McCartney. He is considered a real National treasure here in England and I am guessing why there was so much animosity for Heather Mills after they divorced… That is discussion for another time… Today I am discussing something different… It is the second day of 2009, there are only 363 more days to go of this year… I am writing and talking about New Years resolutions… Two days gone and you knew I was going to crack on with those, didn’t you?
With 363 days remaining, have you started on with your action plan yet? Hahahaha… I do not want to go inducing early guilt… So let me tell you exactly what I do want to talk about today… Emotions! Emotions and New Year resolutions, what a cocktail, eh? Let me explain…
When Paul McCartney was with the Beatles, him, John, George and Ringo did not sit down and plan on being the most successful music band in history. They may have occasionally dreamed of such as boys, but that was not the plan in those successful early years.
Achievement seems to work a bit differently than starting with a HUGE goal (though it is good to think BIG)… When considering and putting into place your New Years resolutions, maybe think a bit differently this year…
You see, in the early 60s, the Beatles just wanted to have fun, keep getting better, write songs, and live a dream. When you see them perform then, you can tell that. If you read material about that time, you can read that about them.
They did not actually plan on being number one. All of them were often quoted as saying they would be lucky to see their success continue another few months. Like many other success stories, their goals were largely short-term. Write more songs, become better and more talented as musicians, release as much quality material as they could. And… have fun.
When thinking of your New Years resolutions, are you groaning? Are you thinking that you have to do them… Because you have to… And then groaning some more… Are your New Years resolutions actually like being given household chores when you were 8 years old?
While they were having fun the Beatles succeeded. Once other things became more important than the current dream of playing, they split up in a rather unpleasant way. They all succeeded in one form another as soloists… As my Christmas music albums proved… When they expressed themselves individually, the fun seemed to reappear… I watched Paul McCartney headlining at Glastonbury a couple of years back, on stage in wellies, he was singing and performing brilliantly with his recent hit “Dance Tonight” and he was having some fun, that’s for sure!
When you analyse those people who succeed at anything, they do so doing something they are either really good at or love doing. Or both love and are good at.
When you look at the lives of people who live fulfilling lives, they often have as much skill as those who love their work, but they are not doing what they love. I meet LOTS of people doing the same as me who seem to know much more… But don’t seem to have the same love as me for the subject and the work… I tend to think it makes the difference…
I played the cello as a youngster. As I grew older and became a good footballer and starting enjoying chasing girls, it became less cool to play the cello and my Mum had to force me to practice and develop my skill. Many people are very skilled, say, as a musician only because their parents made them play when they were children, but they don’t actually enjoy playing to any significant degree… If I learned to play today (I rue that silly schoolboy mentality I had then) I’d be playing for love of playing…
Where there is no desire, there is no passion for the outcome. It’s very hard to artificially generate a passion for something you don’t love. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy success at it, however. Someone who has passion for financial independence and the lifestyle it brings, can definitely do something they don’t enjoy to achieve that goal.
If you have to try and think about your goal and actually might forget about it from day to day or hour to hour, the outcome you want could be worthwhile, but it is very unlikely to manifest in reality. It is unlikely to exist within everything you do and underpin your existence than something which burns deep within you…
The vast majority of your brain function operates outside of your awareness. Whatever the emotional and survival elements of the brain focus on are what you are likely to be driven to move toward and away from. Your brain will focus on what fulfils your desires and bring you into a desirable state of being.
If, for example, you think it would be desirable to become a manager at your company, but you are emotionally being driven away from your work to find fulfilment elsewhere, your goal setting is going to most likely be met with a lot of frustration even if you are successful… You have to be considering this when setting your New Years resolutions… Because you may be setting yourself up for ‘inevitable’ failure and harming your own relationship with yourself!
The one and only aspect of New Year resolution setting I urge to you think about is that you are far more likely to achieve your resolution if you are truly attached to it in some emotional way. Does it bring out feelings of excitement, calm, passion, love, joy and intensity?
So if you are groaning miserably about New Years resolutions that you ‘ought’ and ‘should’ be doing this year, think again my friends… Inject some love, fire and joy into what you want to achieve and into things that are going to be fuelled by that love, joy and passion for the outcome… Give it some balls! 🙂
Lets kick 2009’s backside, shall we?
Happy New Year… It is good to be back!
