Lessons for 2019 Resolutions

Let me begin by sharing with you a scenario that I observed one September morning in 2018 at The Docks in Liverpool, England, UK.

As I was walking along The Docks in Liverpool, enjoying the history of the Beatles’ hometown, a bird trying to find some food on the ground caught my attention.

An empty ice-cream cone that was discarded by a person came into the focus of the hungry bird. The bird approached the ice-cream cone, but because of other birds in the area, it hastily and without thinking about it, grabbed the ice-cream cone by its narrow-pointed tip.

The bird tried to swallow it whole.

The cone started to choke the bird; nevertheless, the bird continued to shove it deeper into its throat, resulting in a drool from both sides of its beak, and the bird started to show signs of distress.

My first reaction was to help the poor struggling bird, but it would not allow anyone to come near it, not even another bird. It then took refuge behind The Delicious Hot Dogs—a meal truck.

Finally, and with great relief, the bird emerged from behind the truck with the ice-cream cone in its beak, now positioned sideways. The drool had worked its way into the cone as well, softening it and making it easier to bite off pieces.

This little encounter with the bird and the ice-cream cone brought to the fore many lessons—the importance of thinking before acting; of looking at a situation and analyzing it from various angles before taking action; of working at nibbling at a goal before trying to achieve it in whole.

In 2019 we can learn that to achieve our resolutions, we need to establish doable goals and milestones. We need to nibble at our resolutions—softening them, achieving them one bite at a time.

Enjoy every bite! This keeps our goals from becoming overwhelming and suffocating our efforts. Think through and reach your resolutions!

Eddy A. Sumar, MBA, CCE, CICE, and CEW, is the Founder of ERS Consulting Services in Rancho Cucamonga, California; he is an International Trade Financing Consultant; a Consultant for the Center for International Trade Development (CITD); a member of the Guidepoint Global Advisors, and an Associate of Quote 2 Cash (Q2C). Mr. Sumar is a research consultant, author, and a public speaker and enjoys writing and traveling. Contact: e-mail: ealberto@aol.com.