Everyone Can Make and Keep These Resolutions for the New Year

Each New Year, people resolve to make changes in their lives. They resolve to exercise or save money. They resolve to kick bad habits--smoking, over indulging in alcohol or sweets, etc. Unfortunately, before the end of the year's first quarter, many find their resolutions a bit faded and worn if not entirely dissolved. Resolutions tend to coast on the ephemera of enthusiasm and falter without the support of solid planning. The early enthusiasm of New Year's resolutions come apart when subjected to daily demands, that have gone unconsidered as the resolutions are developed, and unrealistic expectations.

It is easier to prevent this usual course of events than most people think. It requires three simple steps. First, select appropriate and realistic resolutions, then shape them in terms of goals, and the steps required to attain them. Choose resolutions that can be incorporated into your current lifestyle, yet pursued in a way that creates the changes you want to see in your life. Finally, people, who keep resolutions, plan to keep them, and do something big or small each day to make them a reality.

There are three resolutions that everyone can make and keep this year. Everyone should resolve to improve their health this year, increase their green aptitude, and learn something new. These resolutions can be scaled to fit an individual's current circumstances and expanded as desired.

Improve Your Health

We've all done some version of the full throttle approach to becoming more fit, usually in the form of exercise and dieting. We buy the new gym membership, drastically reduce our diet-surviving on nutrition shakes and wheat grass shots, and purchase wardrobe additions for when we've lost however many pounds. Sometimes it works, but the result isn't always permanent, and this approach doesn't take into account the fitness of the whole person, physical, mental and fiscal.

Instead of taking the full throttle approach to fitness this year, why not ease into it by making simple additions to your everyday routine? Get up and stretch in the morning, make time for several short walks during the week (they cumulative effect is the same as doing it all at once); choose multigrain bread instead of white bread; choose teas and natural juices instead of pop, also know as soda, or carbonated beverages. Learn to experiment with herbs and spices while cutting down on your salt intake. According to RealAge.com, "Actively patrolling your health can make your RealAge (Your physical age, rather than your chronological age) as much as 12 years younger."

This area also covers resolutions that improve your mental state or level of happiness. Is your job bringing you down? Do you need to get out of a relationship or maybe get into one? Are you worried about financial matters? Each of these situations affects your overall health. RealAge.com advises, that "taking care of your emotional health and well-being can make your RealAge up to 16 years younger."

Now is the time to plan to make the life that you want to live happen. There are plenty of resources to help you do it. Author and speaker, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, offers great information and tools to aid you in this area on his website: www.stephencovey.com. He provides self-evaluation and goal setting tools that help people define and create the type of life they want to live. He's best known for his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Joyce Schwarz's book, Visionboard; The Secret To An Extraordinary Life, is another great resource for life planning and goal setting. In her book, Schwarz helps people literally create the picture or vision of the life they want to live, as well as, the methods, they plan to implement to achieve their goals within that vision. Instead of the usual to do list, readers create a collage of dreams, aspirations, methods and goals.

Increase Your Green Aptitude

We all know that over-consumption and the continued use of non-renewable energy sources are making planet earth an ever more dangerous place to live, as evidenced by the shrinking Arctic shelf and highly destructive tsunamis and hurricanes, the globe has experienced in recent years. It's perfectly normal for the world to warm, just not so quickly. Man's ability to influence his environment has the potential to take a really nasty turn, unless we modify the way we create and consume energy. Those modifications are becoming more mainstream and suited to consumer consumption with each passing day. Don't panic; you can decrease your carbon emissions and shrink your carbon footprint by doing really simple things, that don't include moving to the wilderness and foraging for your supper.

First, find out how big your carbon footprint is. Carbonfootprint.com defines it as, "a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and in particular climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc.; The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tonnes (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent." In the United States, our unit of measurement is pounds. There are many tools available for people to measure how much their activities contribute to carbon dioxide emissions and other forms of pollution that negatively impact our environment. Visit, www.climatecrisis.net, to take a simple survey that calculates your carbon footprint then gives suggestions to help you shrink it.

Here are four simple things you can do to make your life a greener space. Change your light bulbs to the funny spiral ones. Carbon Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) require 75% less energy than standard light bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. That blue bin is not a laundry basket, foot rest or sitting stool; utilize your city's recycling program. If every household recycled half of its waste, it would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 2400 pounds. Walk, carpool and use public transportation when possible; every car that stays off the road for the equivalent of 10 miles per week reduces carbon emissions by 500 pounds a year. If you hang your clothes on the line to dry for six months of the year, you reduce your household's emissions by 700 pounds. There are many other small things that you can do to have a big positive impact on our environment and resources without negatively impacting your lifestyle, www.energystar.gov is another useful and accessible resource to help you keep this resolution.

Learn Something New

Learning keeps the mind young. New connections are built within the brain each time a person learns something new or does a previously learned activity differently. Staying mentally active is one of the means recommended to prevent illnesses like Alzheimer's and age related dementia. The great thing is, it can be something simple like using a word-a-day or fact-a-day calendar, or as extensive as taking language courses, pottery classes or earning a degree. It also keeps life fresh and interesting, and opens doors to opportunities. A person's only true limit is their knowledge base and that can be grown.

Choosing one of these resolutions or some aspect of each of them will have a positive holistic effect on a person's life. To insure success in transforming these resolutions into actionable goals, they just need to be certain to incorporate the right tools in their efforts. Several books and websites, which can provide information and support, have been mentioned throughout this article. In addition, social networking groups online, Facebook, traineo, and Stephen Covey's Community website, and peer groups offline can help people accomplish their resolution goals for the New Year. Just remember, when it comes to reshaping one's life, many steps often take one further than one great leap.