Inspirational Ateeq Hussain is a Huddersfield businessman who changed his mindset and changed his life. Here’s his latest monthly Monday Motivation blog to kick off 2022. Whatever your New Year’s resolutions – just do it!

A warm welcome to 2022 – another year bites the dust! Was it a wasted opportunity or did we do something extraordinary? Are we that much closer to reaching our goals or did we allow them to get further away from us?

You know, it’s funny, strange and sad all the same time that we have all these goals, targets, ambitions and desires at the commencement of the New Year in terms of our health, in terms of our wealth, in terms of skills and abilities but when you look back on the year we can all judge for ourselves how little we actually got done.

I believe this is true for the vast majority of people and I agree with Jim Rohn who says: “It’s easy to do but it’s also easy not to.”

It’s easy to take a half-an-hour walk in the morning but it’s also easy not to. It’s easy to cook yourself a healthy, nutritious meal but it’s also easy not to.

It’s easy to break down important tasks into manageable chunks to get them done but it’s also easy not to. It’s easy to go that extra mile for customers and your work but it’s also easy not to. No one’s looking right?

Well, that just depends on your mindset and your philosophy.

I was speaking to somebody just yesterday about the achievements for the last year and how they thought it went.

I was taken aback by how they felt, despite living in a prosperous first world country and being physically healthy, all this individual could recall of the year was that they survived!

Must have been a tough year, I thought. But isn’t that part and parcel of being alive? Yes, life is hard, life is suffering, we all know that, problems are not special gifts reserved for the poor.

We all have problems and setbacks but it’s what you do about it that makes the difference between thriving or surviving.

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I think the trick, in the words of Dr Jordan Peterson, is to find meaning in the suffering. And in the words of Les Brown, if it’s hard, do it hard!

I used to be in the survivor camp, so I’ve seen both sides, until I realised that just surviving is not what we’re here to do. We were created to thrive and grow and develop and help make a difference in the world.

It’s not as complicated as the pundits on TV, the suits in government and the social media gurus would make us believe.

The first thing you can do to really help yourself is to switch off the technology for enough time to discover yourself, who are you? Where have you come from? Where are you going and what the heck are you doing here?

I think these are important questions but too often totally neglected….until it’s too late.

Sometimes, I think the best policy is to just get on with it. Whatever it is that you know deep down is important to you, just get on with it.

Or in the words of Art Williams, who gave us the well-known phrase: ‘Just Do It’, in his inspirational 1987 speech he describes the secrets that were pivotal for him going from a school football coach to a multi-millionaire company owner within 15 years.

According to Art, the difference between making it and quitting is simple. The winners do whatever it takes to get the job done. They do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, until the job gets done.

And then they talk about how great it is to have finally achieved something. And how glad they are that they didn’t quit like everybody else. And how wonderful it is to finally be somebody they’re proud of. And make a difference with their life.

If you want to become somebody, do it. If you want to go into business for yourself, do it. If you want to become financially independent, do it.

If you want to lose weight, do it. If you want to learn a new language, do it. If you want to learn a new skill, do it. If you want to get better, do it. If you want to feel good, do it. If you have an idea, do it. If you want to get creative, do it.

Let 2022 be the year we just do it! No ifs, buts or excuses. Our time isn’t guaranteed but it starts NOW. Wishing you peace and prosperity.

Ateeq