Six New Year's Resolutions You Can Really Keep

Invite 30 people to a party, ask them what are the most popular New Year's resolutions, and you can be sure the same two will be on everybody's list. Those two are losing weight/getting in shape and getting a handle on the budget. As a matter of fact, those two ranked #1 and #4, respectively, on the New Year 2011 list. If these are your resolutions, you have lots of company, but the question is this: Are they resolutions you can really keep?

Resolutions that fall through the cracks any time after January 1 usually have three problems. In the first place, they were too big in scope - or too general - to accomplish. They also have no timeframe. Most important, some don't involve permanently changing any behavior.

Here are six resolutions you can really keep this year:

Weight Loss/Physical Conditioning

There's a reason it's on everybody's list. This type of resolution is very difficult to meet, so we add it year after year. Most people who name a certain number of excess pounds give up when it looks as though success might not be in sight. The same is true of resolving to get in shape. Former couch potatoes shell out for a gym membership and give up after a week due to fatigue and stress. They want to see immediate results without a permanent behavioral change.

Resolution: Take a look at the diners you see on your next trip to a fast-food or other restaurant. You'll understand why obesity is an American epidemic. Resolve to cut out just one restaurant or drive-thru meal a week for the next year. Get on the scale no more than once a week. Chances are, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the end of the year.

Financial Concerns

The resolutions sound great. Get out of debt by the end of the year. Follow a written budget to the penny. Avoid using a credit card even once in the next 365 days. What happens if the debt is more than $20,000? How will you follow a budget to the penny if you've never even made a budget?

Financial changes are hard because they fight our aversion to self-sacrifice, which is an essential element of getting out of debt. Once you use a credit card for an emergency repair, it's all too easy to justify that you've fallen off the debt-reduction wagon and start using it for wants. The failure to save a designated amount from just one paycheck can convince you that you can't save anything.

Resolution: Pick one day each week and put all your loose change in a jar. Once a month, deposit the money. If you're paying off debt, it goes into your checking account. If you're just starting to save, it goes into a money-market savings account until next year, when you can readdress the best place for it.

Stress Reduction

We spend millions on ways to accomplish it. A small step toward a behavioral change is free.

Resolution: Take just 5 minutes a day to do absolutely nothing. Lie on the sofa, let your mind wander, relax your muscles. Bring to mind just one blessing in your life.

Time Management

Are you a procrastinator? Always late? Does your family complain that you spend no quality time with them? Do you look - and feel - sleep-deprived?

Resolution: Every morning, write down just three things you need to accomplish for yourself or others that day. Cross off each one as you do it. You'll see progress right away.

Welcoming Change

Change for most people is stressful, which is why we resist changing behaviors like smoking or drinking. It's easier stay in the same routine, even if it's somewhat self-defeating, than to adopt changes.

Resolution: Just one day a week make a point of doing something outside your normal routine. Try a new food, check a different genre of book out of the library, or have lunch with somebody you barely know at work. Use blue ink instead of black. The sky's the limit.

Complaining

I come from a family of complainers. It must be genetic. Nobody likes to hear complainers. Ask them how they are, and you won't even get a "fine." Instead, they'll launch into a diatribe of how high the electric bill was, why they can't get along with their boss or why they can't afford to fix the car.

Resolution: Stop just one complaint from coming out of your mouth every day. It only requires thinking before opening your mouth and swallowing the words that were about to escape. Pretty soon, it will become a habit. Of the six resolutions, this might be the easiest to really keep.

Sources:

http://newyear2011.net/

Personal experience