Do
Thinking about it, a new year is not particularly different from any other day when we sleep and wake up. The earth keeps rotating around the sun, the galaxy retains its course, and the birds of the air continue to sing and fly. So when you think about it that way, there’s nothing different.
However, for the human race, it is different. We have always paid attention to time, from the earliest civilization to the first-ever definition of time in 1,500 BC by the Egyptian. We do so to make the prediction of the future easier.
Defining time, we could tell when the harvest is to come and when planting is supposed to start and many more. We did not invent or create time. It has always been. We only advanced to give it our definition. It means if there was an alien life in some other galaxy, their definition of time may be different from ours.
While I was thinking of the time (year) 2021 in 2020, one question that was prime to my heart was “what do I want the year to look like for me?” I settled on the fact that it has to be a year that I talk less and use my time to build something. And you can only build by doing, i.e. by acting out on your knowledge.
In light of that, I see the year more as one where there will be more doing to build. Our observation of time was necessitated by the principle of doing. We wanted to know when to plant and when to harvest, we wanted to know what to harvest and what to plant, and we wanted to be able to tell what our doing will result in. If all we cared about was to just talk, sleep and wake up, then we wouldn’t have cared enough to define time as much as we do.
Yes, there might not be a difference between yesterday and today in the Milkyway, but for us, there is a huge difference. It is a reminder call to DO. To wind up the end of something and prepare for another full cycle. Companies are closing their account and opening a new one, individuals are going to celebrate another birthday, and the earth will give new harvests and allow more planting. Our observation of time is to drive us to DO.
So this next 365 days, I urge you to do as much as I am urging myself. In whatever way you understand or interpret the word DO, please DO.
DOing could mean reading more, starting a company, joining a community, investing, paying for that course, starting a relationship, being more available for those that love you etc. I even like this list by Tola
Every new year at the very least offers you the opportunity to rethink what you’ve been doing and recalibrate to what you are supposed to be doing. Don’t waste this important opportunity.
Whenever you happen to stumble on this post, I also have this to say:
Your year is not determined by what you do (did) or didn’t do on January 1, not at all. It has more to do with what you do every day of the year. So DO, Just DO and Keep DOing.
Great post. Just *DO*. Idleness can be catastrophic.
Really catastrophic.