Take it to the max

It's 2008!
Most of us went through either:
Multitudes of new year SMSes - some thoughtful, some inspiring and some recycled and corny,
Extreme partying i.e. reducing the blood in our alcohol stream,
Bonding with our loved ones via house parties and such,
and of course trying to make our resolutions for the rest of the year - trying being the keyword.

In relation to making resolutions, I scouted the web for some inspiring quotes to do my part in spreading the SMS joy and found this.

We will open the book. It's pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. This book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

I thought I'd spend a few hours contemplating on my resolution for the coming year. But some would disagree on the concept of a new year's resolution like others would disagree about Valentine's Day; Why spend one day 'celebrating love'? Does this mean that you can't do it on any other day? In fact, you should.

I however think that if one tries to make big decisions everyday, he would end up becoming a very tension-fied wreck and perhaps constantly disappointed - at himself.

But I was proven wrong.

So wrong it even felt like I was getting scolded by the book Awaken the Giant Within, written by Anthony Robbins (my favorite life coach). I bought the book instantly. Tony says that in order to stretch yourself to your maximum potential, you have to make conscious decisions to direct your life everyday. It's akin to wishing upon a genie but instead, you demand this decision out of yourself.

Deep stuff. The book is slightly long winded (his style) but highly reccomended if you'd like to awaken yer giant. No, pun not intended.

Yes, I got carried away. But back to point - How would I like my year to be?

Well, a brief recap of 2007 has told me that:

i) I'm fond of doing involuntary charity to whom I will never know

I think my pants have holes that I'm not aware of..

ii) I just can't/don't take serious things seriously.
iii) Despite having my watch 36 minutes early, I'm constantly 22 minutes late (in actual time) therefore qualifying me for time zones of Bangkok, Hanoi or Jakarta.
iv) Food is good and I'm getting prosperous.

There's definitely more where that came from but this year I'm taking a different approach I learnt from BAT called Continuous Improvement. Reason being new year resolutions should not be a one-off thing. It's like asking you to lift a forest worth of logs in a day. Rather, one should pick a stick a day in order to reach the destination without dying.. in spirit.

So the first one, would be to get in shape.

Nice.

And my mantra (something that you'd repeat day in and day out to motivate yourself) for the year to keep me going is, "I'm something else".
Do share if you have or can think of any good ones.