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On Finding Meaning and Building Lasting Organizations: 10 Higher-Order New Year Resolutions From 10 Makers

New year often comes with a series of promises: a chance to restart, reorganize, revitalize our lives. The significance of a new year, in reality, is that it gives us the opportunity to think anew, an opportunity to start with hope and a sense of new beginning.

Although in reality, a new year does not mean anything at all, it does not change anything by itself. That said, it gives us a chance to do mental reset and energy to start all over again. This is important and has incredible power. A new year is like a new slate where we can design our life as we want to.

New year resolution is a common thing. At the outset of every new year, we tend to reorganize and refurnish our lives, put together things to do, goals to achieve, places to travel, new habits to form, old bad habits to eradicate and so forth.

However, the life of an entrepreneur, or a maker or an artist demands for something more, something of a higher order that does not directly talk about specific material goals but connects both our intellectual and material world and better prepare ourselves for a brand new year.

We have put together such eleven higher-order resolutions from eleven great entrepreneurial and creative minds that will help navigate a new year better and get best out of it.

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Carol Sawdye

Carol Sawdye 
Chief Operating Officer, PwC

On living life with a sense of urgency

Well, it’s pretty sobering to be told at 25 years old that you have a 50% chance of reaching 30. So I think that got me going, quite honestly, more than anything else. And it really crystallized for me that I needed to focus on what I cared about so that I didn’t have any regrets, personally and professionally.

One [simple] example of that is that I was living in New Jersey and I was commuting into [New York] City and it was close to an hour and a half each way. I moved into the city to get three hours of everyday back because time became very precious to me and I wanted to make the most of it.

And so similarly, from a career perspective, instead of sitting back and looking at my career as something that happened to me, I really felt like I needed to take charge of my career and make sure that I was seeking opportunities as opposed to waiting for them to come to see me.

I say to myself, and actually, it’s a phrase that we use a little bit at PwC, which is “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” So I try not to be afraid and take opportunities, and then mitigate the risks associated with those opportunities.

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Fahim Mashroor
Fahim Mashroor, CEO of Ajkerdeal

Fahim Mashroor 
CEO, Bdjobs.com and Ajkerdeal

On the importance of patience

Patience is critical. It is a long and tough journey. Patience and dedication are two elements that seldom fail. As I said earlier, we want to be rich overnight which is certainly not a good idea. You may find examples of shortcut success which is prevalent in our society but you should also look at the definite peril of this approach. We have tried to walk the path instead of seeking an easy way of making money.

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Muhammad Nazimuddaula
Muhammad Nazimuddaula

Muhammad Nazimuddaula Milon 
Co-founder and CEO, G&R

On being humble and realistic

Please don’t get too high about your idea from the very beginning because it might very well result in utter disaster. Bangladesh’s market or market, in general, is highly unpredictable. So, one needs all the resources he can gather to enter into a new business. Be prepared, as they say, preparation is what makes us lucky.

Everything that you want in life takes time- be it a relationship or career or building a company. You get to learn and accept that. I am still trying to properly distribute my time to everything I hold dear.

We say at seminars and events that failing is great. But in reality, it’s difficult to afford failures. Not everyone can stand up again every time they fall. Failures are expensive and it takes a lot of courage to handle them. I try my hardest not to fail.

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On Finding Meaning and Building Lasting Organizations: 10 Higher-Order New Year Resolutions From 10 Makers

Samantha Morshed 
CEO, Hathay Bunano

On hard work and embracing the unknown

Be prepared for lots of hard work and embrace it. There are so many things you don’t know, you have to find out, you have to juggle money, you have to find the right people, you have to create a team that will become harmonious and work together to solve problems, you have to explain your vision in a way people understand, you have to believe in yourself when others doubt you.

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M.K. Aaref
M.K. Aaref | Click Image for more

M. K. Aaref 
CEO, EMK Center

On the importance of tenacity and making it happen anyway

A lot of good ideas fail because of the facileness of founders. Ideas are prevalent and a very small part of a business, what matters most is how you implement an idea. If you look around you will find lots of useless products have received a huge market response because they have marketed it right. It’s how you establish the business; it’s not only about the product itself.

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Shaer-Hassan
Shaer-Hassan

Shaer Hassan, CEO, Nassania IT 

On starting small

Start small. Start something which is very easy to do first. You need to reap some success first to encourage yourself, your family and the people around you. If success comes after 5 years, by that time you will be frustrated. Even it might happen that you won’t be able to continue. For startups surviving is the success. So, don’t go for the big thing. Always have a big dream, but start small.”

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Iraj Islam
Iraj Islam on growth | Click on image for more

Iraj Islam 
Co-founder, NewsCred

On most important qualities of an entrepreneur

I believe the two most important things for an entrepreneur are passion and perseverance. Passion means finding something you really love to do. Your work will occupy a large part of your life so it’s important you choose a line of work that you’re very passionate about. Perseverance means never giving up on your dreams and visions. Entrepreneurship is tough, and you need to persevere through the bad times in order to get to the good times.

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Rubayat Khan
Rubayat Khan I Click image for more

Rubayat Khan 
Co-founder and CEO, Jeeon

On finding your calling

Pick something that you are passionate about. Entrepreneurship is not about money or power or ego, at the end of the day, it is about solving a problem. Unless you are passionate about that particular problem, it is unlikely that you will be able to hold on throughout the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

You have to be dead set on your mission – and not compromise in any way in achieving that. Above all, follow your heart and cherish the journey more than the destination.

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Sajid Islam
Sajid Islam

Sajid Islam 
Founder and CEO, hubdhaka

On the importance of having good people in your life

Try to surround yourself with successful people. Get mentors and advisers. Make an effort to connect with these people personally and not just on social media. There are too many people on social media today, and it gets very noisy out there. Don’t let your voice get drowned in that noise. Make sure your presence is felt and go for it!

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Naveed Mahbub
Naveed Mahbub | Click on image for more

Naveed Mahbub 
Standup Comedian

On having a plan

The value of time is very important. It is never too late. Nothing is impossible, if you have the right intention and the right goals to reach, then it is definitely doable. One needs to have a solid sustainable plan to execute what you want to do.

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