By: D. A. Slinkard
The year has flown by in the blink of an eye, and I question how many people were unable to achieve what they wanted to? I wonder how many people started out with high hopes of 2021, but quickly gave up when they saw the year was not going quite like how they expected. This seems to be the case quite often when life gets hard, too many people want to just roll over and give up. Is this you? If so, keep on reading.
How are you going to make the most of the upcoming year 2022? For starters, I would recommend you finish this year out strong. Many times, life has taught me it is not how you start but how you finish, and the key to this statement is that you must finish. Too often we, as people, fail to achieve success because of failure to follow through with our commitment to finish. How many times do we pick up a book and read a few chapters, only to lay it down and never pick it up again?
This impacts me just as much as it does you. Success in 2022 is going to require us to make the decision to work towards our goals and see them through. When it gets tough, instead of giving in or giving up, this is when we need to dig deeper within ourselves to make sure we finish what we start. You only have a handful of days left in this year, why not go ahead and set yourselves some goals to achieve BEFORE this year is over.
Once you decide upon what you want to achieve, then go about reaching your desired results. You will have the satisfaction of ending this year out on a high note, and it could be the proper motivation you need to jumpstart your 2022! The choice is yours to make, and either you will decide to make it work or you will decide to quit, but either way you will make the decision, one way or the other.
I believe too many people fail in life because of an inability to think critically. They are unable to comprehend what is happening in their life, and instead of seeing the solution, they can only focus on the problem. If people could get a handle on critical thinking skills, then I believe they would be able to see more solutions than problems. Am I perfect at this? No, but I am trying to be. The easiest suggestion I would give to help improve your thinking is to start with a blank piece of paper or even a dry-erase board.
Whichever resource you have available, simply write the problem down and then begin brainstorming possible solutions. I am going to warn you that in the beginning of your critical thinking exercises you will be horrible at it. Thoughts and ideas will not be flowing, and typically the thoughts and ideas you do have are not very good. However, just like anything in life, the more you practice the better you will become. You will find your approach to life and the daily struggles being altered because mentally you are changing your mindset. Your approach is becoming one of having a problem that needs to be solved and realizing you can find the solution.
One area I believe our educational system is failing our future generations is a lack of critical thinking. We want life to be easier and not to be hard. In doing so, we take out certain aspects of life that require people to use their brain. We have a system that is teaching our kids how to do well on a standardized test but fails them once they reach the real world. We have kids who cannot see their way out of a paper bag. I do not say that to be mean, I say that to be a challenge. For our country to succeed, we need our future generations to be able to think critically…and I am not talking about Critical Race Theory.
One way to achieve success in 2022 is to reflect on 2021 and see what worked for you, what did not, and what you would have done differently. I urge you to start the process now and see where it takes you and know that if success was easy, everyone would be achieving it. Success for next year starts right now — if you are willing.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard would love your feedback. You can contact him at da.slinkard@gmail.com
April 19, 2024
