How to Keep those New Year’s Resolutions

Originally published Jan. 7, 2013 11:30 a.m.

What are your New Year’s resolutions, or do you even make any?

The turn of the calendar to a new year often gives us ideas of things we’d like to improve upon in our lives for the year ahead. Often, these resolutions, as they’ve come to be known, include losing weight, eating better foods, spending more time with family or friends, making a career change, or becoming more organized.

Many resolutions that are made are broken, abandoned, or never started. Isn’t that human nature? Most people just don’t have the determination to follow through on making changes in our lives, probably because change is so difficult for most of us and most of us are so busy getting through day-to-day life, that anything different often gets swept under the rug.

I gave up on making “New Year’s” resolutions a long time ago. Have I made resolutions? Yes. But, I make them throughout the year when I realize there needs to be a change. I believe you have to really decide to make a change before you will be successful in doing so. Simply declaring a New Year’s resolution, or writing down a goal isn’t going to make it happen, though it might be a good first step.

Whatever it is you want to change in your life probably won’t happen unless you get to a point where you don’t want to face the consequences of not making the change.

Instead of waiting for New Year’s to come around, why not make a resolution on April 22^nd, for example? This year, I encourage you to make resolutions whenever you feel the need to, and I wish you the best in following through with them!