Happy New Years Resolutions!

Do you make resolutions at the start of each year? Do you generally keep them, break them, win-some/lose-some? Some people will tell you you shouldn't make resolutions -- "If you really want to do something, you can do it at any time, why wait for New Year's?" But I look at January 1st as a chance to try again, take inventory of my life and know that there's always time to make a fresh start. I heard a doctor on the news last night talking about making a resolution to stop smoking. She said you may fail (the majority of people who try to quit do fail at first), but don't let the failure stop you from trying again. And again. And again. As many times as it takes to finally stop. (Fortunately, I don't smoke, but I know it must be extremely hard to kick that habit). One year I launched a very ambitious "101 Things in 1001 Days" project. I made a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish -- some were pretty mundane and others were pretty lofty -- in 1001 days (that's just about 2 years and 9 months). I probably did about 40 things on my list before giving out of steam and losing interest/willpower. I can look back on the experience as either glass half-full or glass half-empty. No, I didn't reach my goal of doing all 101 things. But on the other hand, I did do 40 more things than I would have done without a goal. So it's still a win!

Saw this the other day and it got me to thinking about a visual new years resolution board. While I don't think I want to tackle 101 things at one time again, maybe 10 or 15 would be a wiser choice. But the idea is to make a board to put in a visible place where I'll see it every day (beside my desk, next to my bathroom mirror, next to my bedside table, etc). And on this board, I'll pin something representative of each goal/resolution. For example, if I wanted to lose 10 pounds, I might cut the number 10 out of a magazine. Or post a photo that represents 10 in some way. Once I reach the 10 pound goal, I would remove the 10 photo and that would leave me to focus on the remaining goals/resolutions not yet accomplished. If I wanted to save money to buy a new computer, I might pin a nickel to my board (one time I saved my pocket change for a few years and actually saved enough to buy a new computer...whenever I made a purchase I never used my change, just kept sticking it in a large jar, and every few months I would sit down and roll all my coins while watching TV). I'm going to work on my board this weekend and be ready to start bright and early Monday morning. I'll update you from time to time on my progress. What resolutions do you plan to make this year?

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