Start by Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

Keeping a New Year's Resolution is impossible for many, difficult for some, and challenging for most of us. The New Year's Ball at Times Square in Manhattan, New York in the U.S. marks the appearance of the New Year in the United States. With a new year often comes a commitment or a renewed pledge to do something we may not have been willing to do all year long. This year you may want to consider starting off the new year completely differently. With a different mindset and different actions, you are more likely to get different results; even victory! Perhaps, adding a couple of foolproof elements to your New Year's Resolution will help to assure success.

A resolution, in most cases, looks a lot like a goal. Most people know that goals are achievable when you follow certain principles to help you get there. The first principle is that the goal must be achievable. The second is there must be a plan. The third principle is there must be accountability. Goal achievability is fairly easy to test. If someone else has done it, it can be done. Most New Year's Resolutions are fairly common for the majority of people: stop a bad habit or start a good one.

Plans are a bit trickier. Sometimes the idea of plans give people the jitters. If you have never developed a specific plan before; its okay. That just means you are like most people. Let this year be the one in which you sprint forth; leaving "most people" in the dust. Your plan does not have to complicated or sophisticated. Simple write out your New Year's Resolution Plan on paper.

Using the example of quitting smoking. It is essential that the plan can clearly answer the questions below: The answers to these questions are fairly straight forward. It should be very easy for you to know that you are headed in the right direction to accomplish your New Year's Resolution to quit smoking.

1) What does the end look like? The end should be that the following statements about yourself are true. "I am a non-smoker." or "I don't smoke." This is how you know you have accomplished your goal.

2) How will I know that I am headed in the right direction? Heading in the right direction should include a comprehensive set of objectives or "mini-goals" that make it easy for a person to stay on track with their major goal For example; a) the money used for cigarettes in the past is now sent to a lung cancer research organization, b) instead of pulling out a cigarette when you are bored, you now volunteer at the food bank on weekends and make calls for donations during the week, c) you no longer go to Jay's Sport's Bar to hang out, and d) you now have a new group of buddies to hang out with that do not smoke.

3) What do I need to do in order to meet the goal that I have set for myself? What you need to do are the specific activities a person must engage in on a daily basis to meet their New Year's Resolution goals. For our example, it would include things like getting information about lung cancer and which organization does what. Once you get that information, you will have to speak with the program administrator or person in charge and set up a planned giving schedule. An automatic deduction from your bank or credit union account will help you to keep your commitment to give away your cigarette money to a worthy cause.

Use your non-smoking hours to find a worthwhile organization to contribute time and energy to. A person might find that their local church runs a hospice for lung cancer patients. Work out a schedule with the volunteer coordinator to come in on a regular basis and even make calls. It's important that whatever activity you undertake is something that is important to you; as important or even more important than smoking was.

Then, comes the really hard part and where many people fail in keeping their New Year's Resolution. A person must use all of their will, tenacity, and determination to change their patterns. This will include and is not limited to: the people you hang around, the place you work, and your daily routines. It's like this people want change, but they don't want TO change. Until you make your mind up that you will make this change and you will not let life, circumstances, the dog, your boss, or anything or anyone else get in your way, YOU WILL FAIL.

Do not despair. I have outlined a multi-faceted approach covering many different aspects of the quitting process. I use the term process because most people do not stop "cold turkey;" but often make their New Year's Resolution, and fall off the wagon a few times before they give up something altogether. I say that it does not have to be that way this new year. Instead of doing what you have always done and getting what you have always gotten, how about making a change right now. Today tell yourself. This is my year. I will accomplish my New Year's Resolution. I will be successful. I will be victorious. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It is available to me. Yes, I can.