With the theme of my site and what I’ve been doing over the last six months, you’d probably expect me to have a big list of New Year’s resolutions for 2008.

I had thought about making some, but after reflecting on the last six months and figuring out what has worked for me and what hasn’t, I came to the conclusion that the idea of a New Year’s resolution just doesn’t sit well with me for a couple of main reasons.

1. Most resolutions we make are too vague
2. Why wait for a certain day to start making changes?

First, most resolutions are vague. 

“I want to lose weight”

“I want to save more money”

That’s all fine and dandy to say, but those aren’t solid and quantifiable goals.  If your end goal is vague, how are you supposed to measure your success or create and adapt your plan to achieve that goal?

It’s important to set a concrete, measurable goal. 

“I want to lose 30 pounds over the next 12 months”

“I want to save $6000 this year”

Those are pretty much the same goals, but the small change in wording makes it easier to measure and achieve them.  Losing 30 pounds in 12 months breaks down to 2.5 pounds a month.  Suddenly that goal doesn’t seem so hard, does it?  You identify the pace you need to achieve the final goal and you have a set of mini-goals to work towards on your way there.  If you see that you are deviating from the mini-goals, it is easier to adapt your approach - eat a little less or more, exercise a little longer.  The same idea applies to the money saving goal.  By breaking it down, you’d see that you need to save $500 a month to reach the goal of $6000.  By knowing the exact number, you can adjust your budget as necessary to get there.

My second, but main problem with these resolutions is the idea of waiting for a certain date to start.  One of the most important things I’ve learned over the last six months is that there is no better time to make changes in your life than right now.  That is an idea that I believe in with all my heart and one that I will take with me to the end.

In my past attempts at losing weight or making changes, I would always set myself up for failure by putting off the day I’d start.  Say it would be Thursday - I’d say to myself “it’s almost the weekend - I’ll eat crappy and be lazy for one last weekend and get started Monday”.  Talk about taking a step backwards before even taking a step forwards.  The main problem with this attitude is that it makes it hard to immediately get back on track after some setback or adversity. 

Setbacks and adversity are unavoidable in life, but if you aren’t in the state of mind where you are ready to make changes right away, you’ll end up staying off course longer each time you falter.  Say you have a slip-up in your diet - you’re stressed out and in a rush, so you end up getting junk food for dinner.  If you’re in the proper mindset, you’ll see that as nothing more than a minor blip over the long run and be ready to go back to your normal routine immediately afterwards.  If you’re in the wrong mindset, you might tell yourself “well I’m already eating crappy today - I may as well take a break - I’ll get started back up again on Monday”.   So what should have been a minor blip instead turns into a bigger setback.

Having said all that - I’m not making any resolutions this year.  I’ve already laid out my goals and have set them up in a way that I have minor milestones to work towards to achieve them.  Nothing is set in stone and I will always be reviewing and revising them as time goes by.  I’m not going to wait for some special day to make changes and neither should you.

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb