How to Stick with Your New Year's Resolutions

Successful New Year's resolutions are those that are well-defined. Fuzzy goals such as "I want to be skinny" or "I want to be the next Donald Trump millionaire" are not going to keep you on task. This article contains a simple three-step plan for creating well-defined goals that you will be able to readily accomplish during the New Year.

#1: Decide what your New Year's resolution is in broad terms. For instance, it could be "to get healthy."

#2: Choose what will be the best path to attain that broad goal. What is going to keep on the straight-and-narrow to achieving that goal? If your broad goal is to get healthy, then perhaps it will be training for an upcoming marathon that'll keep you on the right track.

#3: Develop a daily or weekly plan for your long-term goal. So, for instance, if you set your sights on running a marathon to get healthy, then you'll want to plan for a practical amount of training time. Make a schedule that will be feasible for you. Don't decide that you'll do early morning runs if you've never gotten up earlier than 10 am before. Just as important, don't plan for an evening run every day if you normally plop down on the couch after work due to sheer exhaustion.

To further illustrate this three-step plan for creating a successful New Year's resolution, here is a goal that I have set for myself:

1. The broad goal: to get published in a print magazine.

2. My plan for attaining this goal: by querying magazines with my article ideas.

3. My weekly schedule: to send out two queries (or more). This will be accomplished by:

-Recording article ideas during the day into my Ideas binder

-Working on queries each morning for one hour

I foresee having to take one morning to collect research for each article idea and a second morning to write the query to the editor. This schedule leaves for three extra days in which I can either create a third query or write a finished article manuscript. It's a schedule that will allow me to productively work toward my New Year's resolution.

Again, here are the three steps: decide on what your broad goal will be; then, choose a path that will provide the least resistance in attaining that goal; and lastly, craft a daily weekly plan to keep you on the right track.

Cheers to a bright and successful New Year!