New Year’s Resolutions

Here are the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions in order:  

1   1.     Lose weight

2   2.     Get organized

3   3.     Spend less and save more

4   4.     Enjoy life more

5   5.     Get fit and stay healthy

6   6.     Learn something new and exciting

7   7.     Quit smoking

8   8.     Help others achieve their dreams

9   9.     Fall in love

1   10.   Spend more time with the family. 

I must confess that I have made every one of them a priority at some point in time with varying degrees of success. Statistically, 75% of New Year’s resolutions fail within the month, and yet every year millions of us set new expectations annually. Why are so many of us driven to make this annual pilgrimage? Answer, because we sincerely want to be better people emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally, and financially. And why do so many of us fall short of our goals? I would suggest that, in part, there is a lack of will power, goals are unrealistic, and that there is no real measurable plan to carry it through to a successful conclusion. Here are four suggestions to increase the success rate.  

1)    Keep it simple: Avoid the emotional over-achiever mentality. Your goal should be simple, workable, and realistically achievable. Example: I want to have a family night. Looking at your and your family’s calendar, pick the best 1-3 hour time slot. Put it in everyone’s calendar in ink for the next 3 months. Re-evaluate and make the adjustments as needed. Here is the “Golden Rule.” What’s on the calendar first wins, there are no changes unless it’s an emergency by your definition.

2)    Be specific: If your goal is to lose weight and be healthier, have a goal of eating smaller portions, losing 3-5 pounds a month. Exercise at least 3 times a week and keep a chart recording your progress.

3)    Work the plan: I have a goal to be healthier. My plan is to exercise four days a week for at least 20 minutes. It may not sound like much, but for me it is a significant step forward. I seem to do better at home vs. going to a health club. Over a period of several months, I purchased several pieces of used exercise equipment. Everything is set up in my garage. The plan is working and I feel better emotionally and physically.

4)    Involve others: I have learned over the years that we are better together than we can be independently. Involving others to participate with you greatly increases your success. I regularly meet with three other men. Together, we share common goals, have mutual accountability, and prayerful support of each other.  “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” -- Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NLT)

In closing, I want to share my two favorite New Year’s resolutions that I incorporate every year. “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” --Jonathan Edwards

“I will this day try to live a simple sincere and serene life repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity, and self-seeking cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity (forgiving generously insults and injury, staying free from resentfulness), charity, and the habit of holy silence, exercising economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust, and a child-like trust in God.”  -- From a calendar by Bishop John H. Vincent 1909