If You Have Only 1 Goal in the New Year, It Should Be This

I like new beginnings, at least I do when circumstances aren’t going that well.  We all need the promise of a new day at some point in our lives (or day), a chance to begin again, hopefully more intelligently.

A new year can be just such a start.  And while many will choose to have goals and resolutions by the handful, if only one goal were to be set or resolution to be pursued, it is this – be intentional about learning.  Invest in yourself to become the person you need to be to create the life you desire.

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.”  W. Edwards Deming

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to live forever.”  Mahatma Gandhi

“Don’t let your learning lead to knowledge.  Let your learning lead to action.”  Jim Rohn

The longer I live, the more convinced I am that constant learning is critical to happiness and success.  Learning helps you get the most out of life, if we choose to learn the right things.

Learning can happen in so many ways, but only if you are intentional about it.  Read a book, learn something from a “how-to” video on YouTube, check out a new podcast.  Whether it’s trying a new recipe, learning to play the guitar, or figuring out how to balance your checkbook, do something.

It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you do something because it’s not necessarily about the knowledge and skills you learn.  It’s really about the process of learning itself.  Learning breeds curiosity and curious people are more engaged and energized.  Learning allows us to experience progress.  And those are the elements of a healthy life, curiosity, engagement, energy and progress.  These are the things that will motivate you to get out of bed in the morning.

So if you have only one goal in the new year, it should be to learn.   As Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”  May your year be full of learning and life.