I Resolve

"I am going to work out more." 

"I am going to give up chocolate." 

"I am going to stop wearing polka dot underwear." 

Ahhh...the new year's resolution. When you flip the calendar from either November to December or December to January, you automatically start thinking "what am I going to do to improve myself in the new year."  You proclaim with steel resolve (not to be confused with Zoolander's infamous blue steel look) that next year is going to be different. Next year is going to be better because...

And by January 19th, most of your new year resolutions are thrown out the window and discarded. 

It's time to take a different approach.  

Look, you might have some lofty goals for yourself for the upcoming 12 months and that is great but it might be time to reevaluate your goal setting process. 

A new YEAR resolution inherently includes a lot of pressure.  That's 12 months!  That's a lot of opportunity for failure. One slip up.  One day you decide "I just have to wear my polka dot underwear!"  Bam...resolution fail. 

Here is a better way to look at it.  

Give yourself a smaller goal to achieve weekly.  Break down the big picture into smaller pieces. Give yourself a sense of accomplishment more often.  You can still be working towards the end goal but give yourself permission to celebrate along the way. In addition, don't just do this at the end of a calendar year. Do this all of time.  Again, less pressure.  More opportunities to succeed. 

Resolve to no longer do New Years resolutions.  You will be happy you did it. 

The only thing that should bother you from this point forward is the fact that you own polka dot underwear.  That's just weird (probably only applies for dudes though...women can get away with it).