We hear the same classic New Year’s resolutions every year: “I want to lose weight,” “I want to spend more time with my family,” “I want to get organized,” etc. But for some unexplained reason, you never hear of anyone reaching her goal at the end of the year.
At 12AM, a sarcastic drunk man outside a NYC bar asks the crowd leaving Times Square, “So, the ball dropped. New start for everyone, eh?” We all scurry to fix our lives at the start of every New Year. 2012’s a clean slate we haven’t done anything with yet, except drink and possibly kiss at midnight. It’s this fabricated re-birth we go through every January.
It’s the time when the butcher nicknamed ‘Fat Joe’ can shed his fat self and become the ‘Skinny Joe’ he really wants to be. It’s a time when Susie-Middle-School can start shopping at Urban Outfitters and become the most popular girl in the 8th grade. Unfortunately, it isn’t this glorious chance we all think it is. ‘Fat Joe’ will always be called ‘Fat Joe.’ Susie’s clothes will not change her. For this reason, we must also stop treating New Years like it’s the chance of a lifetime. It isn’t. It’s a time to re-evaluate yourself, but that doesn’t make it magic. We treat it like there’s an enchanted New Year’s genie there to grant you your one wish to be “richer” or “happier.” After that we sit back, relax, and expect results.
We expect results because we don’t make real resolutions. Willing yourself to lose weight won’t make you shed pounds. We need to start making real resolutions we know we can keep, otherwise what’s the point?
I’ve put together 3 easy steps to finding a real resolution and keeping it:
1) Think hard about what you really want to change. Is it really that you want to get organized, or is that a symptom of a greater problem in your life? Could it be that you do too much to have time to organize everything? Do you spend a lot of time watching TV when you could be cleaning your room?
2) Once you identified what the real problem is, figure out a plan to fix it, instead of a vague wish. Should your real resolution to be to stop watching television? By starting with this small easy step, you will have more time in your day to do productive activities, like organize your life.
3) Now that you picked a more realistic resolution, stick to it in any way you can. Get some friends to get on board with the same resolution and support each other. Keep a tally of how many days you go without watching TV, or whatever your resolution is. Put a daily reminder in your phone so you don’t forget it by the start of February.
New Year’s is a great time to start anew, but in a real sense. It’s not too late to start your resolution now!
Photo credit: http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/top-5-new-year…