Let’s create a better future!

Maybe 2013 was a good year for you, or you just could not wait for it to be over. Whatever it was, we need to say goodbye to 2013. It’s history. Gone now. Nothing more we can do about it.

What we can do something about is 2014 and the future. Most of it is still ahead of us, ready to make of it whatever we want it to be.

Can we create a better future?

I love the beginning of a new year. It’s a great time to reflect on the past, celebrate what was accomplished, learn lessons from failures and prepare for the future. It’s a little bit like getting a fresh new start. You get to keep all the old experiences, but you can create a whole new future.

Now, I know that you can’t do more just because it’s January or a new year. There is nothing magical about New Years Eve and the start of the new year. The opportunity to start over is always there. We don’t have to wait until the new year begins. Yet for many of us, January 1 marks the beginning of a new race, a new measuring period. And because it is an opportunity to do better than the last period, and because the results we deliver are directly proportional to our belief in our own ability to deliver, the new year changeover becomes amazingly motivational.

The reality is that if we want a fabulous 2014, if we want a better future, we have to create it with the help of the people around us. And, we have to start doing that promptly. I started working on 2014 last year!

The statistics show that 92% of people fail to reach their new years resolutions. But, everyone who makes a resolution, has a better life, even if their resolution failed. By virtue of making a resolution and attempting to improve, they may have only gotten 50% of what they hoped to achieve, but it’s a lot more than they would have achieved without the attempt. As the old saying goes, if you shoot for the stars, you might miss, but at least you get to the moon.

So we have set goals for 2014, some of which we won’t meet, and others which we will far exceed. That is life, and it’s a better life than not setting those goals and stretching ourselves.

This year I am challenging myself, and everyone I know, to actively participate, contribute, engage in opportunities to help those in need around us (including you and me) discover a better future than the one they (we) know today. A donation, a helping hand, a warm smile, a lesson to someone one, or from someone, whatever we can contribute would be valuable in creating a better future. As Andy Andrews, author of The Traveller’s Gift, said when describing the butterfly effect of humanity, “Everything we do matters, every time.” That means doing something good today could have an exponential impact of goodness in the future.

Will you join me in building a better future starting with this incredible 2014 adventure?

Happy New Year 2014!