New Year's Resolutions

So many people fail, --Why?

OK, what good are they? I am reminded of Jay Leno, or David Letterman asking the patrons on the streets what their New Year's Resolution are. In my mind is a vague, most likely self created, image of one of the these two TV personalities, probably Mr. Letterman, asking folks whether or not they kept their resolutions. Of course 90%, according to my impeccable memory, say that they don't keep the previous years resolution. Wow, what a waste of time and effort, me thinks!

As I see it, two main problems exist with resolutions: frequency of the resolution or goal setting process, and no review system. Most people who set resolutions do them once a year rendering the value of the goal setting process virtually useless. If we set resolutions once a month and reviewed them at the end of the month, I believe people would find two things happening: the New Year's resolution would become more attainable, and people would become better at setting attainable goals. The way in which most folks do resolutions is doomed to fail because there is no recovery system from failure, i.e. when it's broken, there is no mechanic. That is why yearly resolutions are a bad idea without the use of smaller monthly resolutions. Most people don't bother to review the resolution until next year.

So you ask, "What would be a successful strategy for my New Year's Resolution this year?" Good question, Johny boy! First I would make your New Year's Resolution actually a long term goal for the year, e.g. I will lose 50 lbs. Next, you need to break it down into bite size chunks; lets say monthly goals. Maybe you would say I will lose 12 lbs a month by riding my bicycle 3 times a week for an hour. Now we have a frame work that might work, but it won't work if you never review it; when the month comes up check to see if you have accomplished your goal and adjust your goals so you can hit them next month. If you missed for a week, don't be too hard on yourself, and the most important thing is that you don't give up the whole year just because you had one failure.

If you have crystallized goals that you can visualize it will be a lot easier to hit the mark. With your clear plan of action and monthly review, hopefully it will be easier to say, "No!" to that extra fry, or to get onto that bicycle, collecting dust, in the garage. So for all of you New Year's Resolutioners, I hope this will offer some useful advice on how to make them actually stick this year.