India 2013. A time for New Year resolutions?

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 27 Desember 2012 | 21.16

Sukanti Ghosh
27 December 2012, 11:06 AM IST

Come end December and people the world over start to think about the year gone by – the highs, the lows, the achievements, the failures, things to laugh about, things to worry about, new friends made and old friends forgotten, births and bereavements, political upheavals and victories, sporting heroes and heroes from the world of sport, cinematic icons and music moguls, the list is endless.

This is also the time of the year that most of us start to wonder about what the New Year will bring; and some of us try to take fate into our own hands by setting for ourselves an agenda of personal goals and objectives, which we hope to realize during the coming year. And though, these objectives or resolutions are often broken even before the month of January (named after the two-headed Greek God 'Janus' who had the power to look into the past and into the future) runs through, it doesn't stop people from making them again or trying to hold on to them for as long as possible.

Today even a cursory glance of the Internet reveals lists of resolutions for most everything and everyone - there are lists of resolutions divided by age group, gender, ethnic background, profession, and choice of pastime; there are lists of resolutions that are never kept, those which are most often kept, recommendations on how you can hold on to them longer, and even studies on trends in resolution making and breaking! For instance, a study conducted in the UK by global research firm YouGov at the beginning of 2012 revealed:

  • 27% of British people say that they have made a resolution this year, while 73% haven't
  • Of those who have made a resolution, 58% want to improve their fitness or do more exercise
  • 57% aim to improve their diet
  • 17% want to pursue a career ambition
  • 16% say they would like to cut down on their drinking (and 7% want to give up smoking)
  • 14% envisage spending more time with their family
  • Other options included taking up a new hobby (13%), volunteering or doing charity work (7%)
  • 3% said they wanted to spend less time on social networking sites (while a paltry 0% wanted to spend 'more time' on them)
  • Men were especially keen to cut down on their drinking (23% compared to 11% of women), while women were much more likely than men to want to take up a new hobby (18% compared to 5% of men)
  • 33% of those who had made a resolution said that they had chosen to do something that didn't feature on our list

Earlier this year, Time Magazine provided a list of the top 10 commonly broken resolutions: 

  1. Lose weight and get fit
  2. Quit smoking
  3. Learn something new
  4. Eat healthier and diet
  5. Get out of debt and save money
  6. Spend more time with family
  7. Travel to new places
  8. Be less stressed
  9. Volunteer
  10. Drink less

And Forbes, very recently, provided a list of the resolutions that will help you jump start your career in the coming year:

  1. Get a raise or a promotion
  2. Reduce stress
  3. Be more organized
  4. Quit your job / get a new job
  5. Improve your work life balance
  6. Network more effectively
  7. Improve your relationship with your boss / co-workers
  8. Enhance your communication skills
  9. Get a degree
  10. Be better with e-mail and voicemail

There are even resolutions made by non-profits, leading corporations and industry associations on behalf of their members: given the dramatic changes that the global medical devices industry has faced the US Medical Devices industry has arrived at the following 5 resolutions for 2013 in the hope that "this is the year to make operational and cultural changes to stabilize instead of sinking into quicksand". (http://bit.ly/Vy6Nef):

  1. Stop whining about comparative effectiveness and embrace it
  2. Be more aggressive about international markets
  3. Innovate for local market
  4. Hire medical economists
  5. Engage patients to build better products

Though relatively less common, countries, through their leaders and government institutions, have also been known to make a set of resolutions for the coming year.  

If as intelligent, conscious and caring citizens of India, we were to arrive at a set of resolutions that India should consider making for 2013 - given the current socio-economic challenges and opportunities that the country faces - what do think they should be?

Herewith are a couple of ideas to set you thinking. Please add your suggestions to the list:

  1. Ensure quality, affordable and easily accessible healthcare for all
  2. Provide food security for all citizens
  3. Ensure greater safety and security for children, women and the aged
  4. Provide greater job opportunities to mitigate social inequity
  5. Mitigate allegations of graft in the high places
  6. Substantially reduce the pollution levels in our cities
  7. ….
  8. ….
  9. ….
  10. ….

For history buffs who would like to know more about how and where New Year resolutions started, please read: http://bit.ly/5Vpe2d

For those who would like to read some of the 'resolutions' made around the Chinese economy in 2013, please read: http://bit.ly/ZChhSB

Image courtesy: embassysuitesconcord.com and 123newyear.com


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

India 2013. A time for New Year resolutions?

Dengan url

http://osteoporosista.blogspot.com/2012/12/india-2013-time-for-new-year-resolutions.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

India 2013. A time for New Year resolutions?

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

India 2013. A time for New Year resolutions?

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger