New Year's Resolutions: Why they are important

Or should that be, New Year's Revolutions as we seem to try and want to change too many things all at the same time.

Have you set any new year's resolutions? How long do you think you will stick to them for? A week, a month? Do you want to know the best way to not worry about breaking them? Easy, don't set them in the first place. Just as "diets" don't work, New Year's Resolutions are not worth the scrappy bit of paper they are scrawled upon. What you should be doing is working out where you want to be this time next month, next year and in the next five years.

Who do you want to meet?
Where do you want to go?
What places do you want to see?
What activities have you always wanted to do, but never got around to?

Once you have written these down, next you you have to work out how you are going to reach these "goals". Work out what you have to do starting today, that will take you towards them. But and here is the thing. It is no good putting down - visit Europe and travel for 6 months if you are spending more money than you currently earn.  So work out your budget, work out what you are currently spending your money on and then ask if that money could be beter saved and spent elsewhere.

For instance a single bar of chocolate at $1.50 a day over a year equates to $78 - hardly a fortune - but add the cup of coffee that you always buy with it and you have a $1,000 a year "problem" spent a few dollars a day. Now that $1,000 could buy you most of a plane ticket (depending where you are flying from of course), so goal setting, goal achieving is possible if you know what you want, and what you are willing to do in order to get there. And that is why most people who set New Year's Resolutions don't work, they haven't been told the best way to achieve them is by having a plan, and working on them on  daily basis.