Following Through with Your New Year's Resolutions - By: C S Lewis

As the year comes to an end you may find yourself pondering last year's resolutions. Do you still have that list? If so, what was on it? Are they the same resolutions you were thinking about adding to this year's list? Perhaps you come up with the following: losing weight, getting out of debt, finally going on that big trip, making up with loved ones, and meeting new people. Once your list is made will you put it away like last year's list, but resolve that this time you are going to follow through. Maybe you follow your New Year's Resolution for a day, a week, or month. For most people resolutions quickly fall by the wayside, either because we forget about them, or they are not practical. How do you stop this cycle from happening this year?

Keep it small and simple at first. "Meeting new people" or "lose weight" are great examples of keeping it small and simple. However, "Going to the Moon" is not a good New Year's Resolution if you are one of millions who has never had a day of space training in their life. "Becoming a millionaire" is another unrealistic New Year's Resolution if you are earning 30K/year and has 65 grand in student loans. While these goals are attainable, they should be set as long term goals and broken down into smaller goals.

When you make your New Year's Resolution don't just write it down, follow through with it. If not, these are just empty words, and it will be a waste of time. You must put forth the effort if you want results. You must come up with a Plan of Action for each resolution you set. If you just write something very vague like "lose weight", you won't be motivated, and therefore you won't attain your goal. So what do you do? Sit and wait for the pounds to come off? And since you haven't set a Plan of Action your goal to lose weight will just sit on that list forever.

To help set clean, clear, organized goals, ask yourself some questions. Such as: how much weight do I want to lose? How much weight can I really lose in a year? How will I go about losing the weight- diet, running, gym, etc? Make sure your New Year's Resolution is separate from your ToDo list. Your ToDo list should detail the actions you must perform in order to achieve your Resolution When you are finished your New Year's resolution should look something like this: "I'm going to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year. To achieve this I will go walking every day, go to the gym 3 times a week- Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and allocate 25% of my monthly food budget to fresh vegetables."

The New Year comes and goes, as will your determination to follow through.

About the Author

Caitlin is from Salt Lake City and works for Sweetly You; where you can find Bath and Body products and Perfumes to compliment any personality.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/C-S-Lewis/59731

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