Does this scenario sound familiar? As the year draws to a close, you look back fondly upon last year’s resolutions. Since you forgot where they are, you decide to make this year’s resolutions instead, and come up with something like this:

Lose weight

Eat healthier

Quit smoking

Go out and make friends

Make a lot of money

Feeling quite satisfied with yourself, you put the list “away”, and make a valiant effort to follow it. Maybe you last a couple of weeks, maybe only a few days. Maybe even less (I believe a record belongs to my friend Anonymous, who broke his resolution to quit smoking exactly 15 minutes after midnight on January 1^st.)

If the above doesn’t sound like your New Year’s Resolutions (NYR’s) experience, consider yourself lucky. For most people, it has become a meaningless exercise in futility that even fewer bother with anymore.

How do you change that pattern? How do you incorporate that experience into what it was supposed to be – a rich, rewarding exercise that will help you make your goals clear?

I have stumbled upon a way that will help you do all that and more. Listed below are a few practical pieces of advice that will help you set the right NYR’s and make sure you actually follow them.

Identify the right goals

New Year’s Resolutions are supposed to be goals that you can achieve in one year. So “quit smoking” or “lose 20 lbs” are definitely a good example. However, “become a black belt in karate” is NOT a good NYR if your martial arts training up to this point has been limited to watching “Enter the Dragon” on the couch.

I’m going to become a black belt in Karate

“Become a billionaire” is another example of unrealistic NYR if you’re getting a 40K/year salary with 100 grand in student loans. While those goals are certainly achievable by hard work, it will definitely take more than a year to attain.

Add actions to goals

Without following through, NYR’s are just empty words. You must put in effort to see results. You must come up with a concrete plan of action for every NYR on your list. If you write your NYG as something vague like “lose weight”, you’re not going to be too motivated to follow through. What exactly is it that you’re supposed to do? Sit and wait until the weight is lost? Keep on running a-la Forrest Gump, until the desired weight is reached? And since your sub consciousness hasn’t received a direct order, it’s going to stuff that ‘lose weight’ comment to the back of your brain.

I’ll just keep running until I lose all the weight

Instead, you should ask yourself questions leading to a clear, concrete goal. For example: how much weight do I want to lose total? How much weight can I realistically lose in a year? How will I go about achieving weight loss – gym, jogging in the morning, etc..?

Separate your NYR list from your ToDo list. If your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight includes an action to “buy gym membership”, take it off your NYR list and put it on your ToDo list – and then, of course, execute it. In the end, your resolution might look something like this:

“Lose 20 lbs by the end of the year. I will achieve it by jogging every morning and going to the gym (the one next to my house) 3 times a week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work.”

Remind yourself regularly of your resolutions

New Year’s day is going to come and go, and so will your mood and determination that you had while creating your NYR’s. How do you stay on track? How do you keep your NYR’s fresh in your head, and follow them all year?

First, you have to put the list you just wrote someplace you can easily find it. File it under “New Year’s Resolutions, 2009”, put it in your wallet, or anywhere else that you like, but make sure that if you get the urge to see it in June, you can easily find it.

Next, you have to make sure your resolution stays visible. This is probably the most important advice you can ever read about NYR’s. Create a note that will always get in the way when you’re most likely to need it. Be creative. If your goal is to eat healthier, stick a note on your fridge. This way, you’ll be reminded every time you’re about to get some food.

If one of your NYR’s is to stop procrastinating so much by reducing the mindless surfing of the net, make your homepage a reminder. You can use this page or use Google Customized home page.

By keeping up with the NYR, you will eventually form a habit. There will be a point where it will become uncomfortable to automatically head to a time-wasting website. You can be sure that once New Year’s Day rolls again, you’ll be able to look at the old year’s resolutions with a sense of accomplishment. Making (and keeping) your NYR’s will once again serve its original purpose – helping you get where you want to be in life faster.

And hopefully, you will be happier because of that. Happy Holidays!

P.S.: This article wouldn’t be truly complete without me posting my New Year’s Resolutions. I can’t post all of them for privacy reasons, but I can post some, with the explanations on how I’m planning to remind myself:

- Prepare everything for the wedding. [I have quite a few items on my ToDo list for this one]

- Write regularly. Establish a readership base for my blog.[Weekly reminders in my calendar to write another article and quite a few ToDo items]

- Stop wasting time: stop watching TV, playing fantasy sports, mindlessly surfing. [actions: disconnect cable TV, don’t sign up for any more fantasy sports leagues, set my homepage to ‘stop procrastinating’ reminder]

- Get in shape by the end of the year. My perfect weight is 175 lbs. Aim to reach my goal by continuing going to the gym every weekday. [I have another article on how to make yourself go to the gym on the regular basis]