I wish you a happy and prosperous 2010. I hope 2009 treated you well and that the new year will be even better. What do you have planned for the new year?
I’m one of those people who believe in making and achieving goals, and I consider New Year’s resolutions worthwhile. Resolutions help one think about what needs to change and how to change it. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to break resolutions because they usually focus on aspects of our lives that we continually struggle to improve. Hence, “resolve” is a key aspect of resolutions, and one must have the resolve to achieve the resolutions they make.
I’m as guilty as anyone in making and breaking my resolutions for the new year, so I have made three personal commitments this year that I hope will help me achieve my resolutions for 2010. One, I chose goals that I am already pursuing and have already made some progress in achieving. Two, I chose incremental targets for my goals rather than “pie-in-the-sky” aims that I know I will never achieve. Third, I pledged to prioritize these goals, focus more on achieving them, and balance them with other responsibilities so they’re not superseded by life’s daily demands. With these three commitments I hope to accomplish these resolutions by year’s end.
Here are my personal goals for 2010:
- Make a major life change
- Lose weight (10 percent)
- Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
- Run (not walk) a 10-kilometer race
- Read half the Bible
- Stop one bad habit
- Write or update 25 short stories
- Go golfing three times
- Read ten books
- Increase our net worth by ten percent
If you haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions, I encourage you to try making some and make the commitment to follow through with them. If you achieve even one, you increase your chances that you’ll end this year happier than you started it.
