It’s that time of year again. The New Year’s resolutions are coming. This is an interesting phenomenon in humanity to me. The fitness clubs are given an almost free gift of membership without overhead because of people wanting to be healthier for the new year. January is packed and February is back to normal. People begin finding themselves despicable for a while and then get back into the doldrums of life. But there is a secret to success with this other than not having resolutions at all. That secret is focus.

Now, I’m no guru or super success story. There’s no reason for anyone to take what I have to say as gospel. In fact, I would wonder what was wrong with you if you did. But this advice is completely free and may be of some use to you. I’ve written similar things about this before and there is some research that supports me (not that I’m going to cite it or anything). So take this with a grain of salt, but I have had some success with this in my own way. At one time I did weigh nearly three hundred pounds and I don’t anymore, though I’m no one’s perfect picture of health. I’ve also used this to self publish five books for kids and make dozens of dollars.

Once again, the key to success as far as your resolutions go is focus, or more specifically, the placement of your focus. A resolution is a decision to be someone or to become someone different than who you currently are. It’s a goal. But here’s the thing – goals don’t make you happy. People always say keep your eye on the goal. Well, people are wrong. If you keep your eye on the goal, you’re unhappy until you reach it and you’re empty after you reach it. If goals were your friends, you wouldn’t hang out with them. Who wants to hang out with people that are constantly telling you not to eat that, to run a little further, or you shouldn’t have skipped your workout? Total jerks they are. It’s because goals are misplaced. They are long term. You need to focus on the hear and now.

Teachers don’t spend the first days of school conquering learning objectives (If you’re not a teacher, don’t ask). They establish rituals and routines. These are things that must be done daily to have successful working parameters. Well, you need them too. They need to be things you can live with. You probably can’t live with working yourself into oblivion every day, unless your some kind of masochistic sicko. You can, however, live with not buying ice cream at the grocery store and deciding to walk for thirty minutes three times a week. Focus on that and the small successes that come with it. If you find that to be too easy, you can adjust your routines later. Also, focus on enjoying yourself. I walk with my dog on a nature trail. It’s fun, and we both love and enjoy it. I write for at least five minutes (sometimes turning into an hour, sometimes not) two or three time a week. My goals are accomplished, but I don’t work for them. They work for me.

Anyway, good luck with your resolutions. You deserve to be able to make good things happen for yourself. Happy New Year.