New Beginnings
This past week you may have noticed that I did not publish a post. I was participating in the Honors Summit, a program designed to welcome and acclimate incoming honors students to LMU and Los Angeles.
The theme of the Summit this year was purpose. Throughout the week we examined the varying purposes of ourselves, our university, and the city. As I reflected on the week, I began to think about new beginnings.
New beginnings are a part of all our lives. We begin new semesters, jobs, relationships, projects, and goals. Although we all encounter new beginnings, we do not always take advantage of all the benefits of new beginnings.
New beginnings give us a fresh start and a clean slate. If we use it correctly we can drastically alter the way we are perceived, the goals for which we strive, and the success we have. Often times, the baggage of past mistakes does not affect us in the way it used to, but, if we are not careful, we can make the same mistakes that lead us back to reacquiring that same baggage in a new setting.
As we walked around the city of LA during the Summit, I began to consider how new beginnings have only been useful in my life when I have approached them with purpose.
I believe that there are three steps we can take to be purposeful in our new beginnings.
1. Acknowledge that we are in a new beginning
The only way that a new beginning is worthwhile is if we treat it like a new beginning. It seems simple, but I have been amazed at how many times people squander an opportunity because they do not see that they are entering a new situation. They continue living in the status quo.
2. Clearly distinguish how our actions will differ from our past actions
On a similar note, a new beginning will not be worthwhile if we do not find ways to change our previous actions. Sometimes this will be tweaking our attitude. Other times this will entail a drastic rejection of a certain behavior or habit. For example, one distinction I have drawn in the past is trying to start more conversations with those around me instead of waiting for people to talk to me. This was hard for me in the past, but has begun to become a bit easier. I have found that picking two to three behaviors and focusing on them is the most productive way to go about this.
3. Set milestones to track our progress
Finally, we must set milestones in order to know if our plan is working. Sometimes it is hard to develop tangible goals for behavior such as in my example above. It is hard to measure if I am starting more conversations. In these cases, I would encourage you to be creative. One way that I could track my conversations is to just set a simple goal of starting one conversation with someone new each day. It could be a short conversation with a cashier, or a longer discussion with a new classmate. Either way it would fulfill my requirement and help me to measure the behavior I am attempting to change. The surpassing of these milestones will be the best way to know if you have taken full advantage of your new beginning.
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