New Year's Resolution Kit

Rules are made to be broken. And that's usually what happens with New Year's resolutions. Melted down, New Year's resolutions are often just a bunch of rules and regulations you make for yourself to sort of, maybe, hopefully follow. Tour your decade with the ghost of resolutions past. If you're like most people, chances are you've let most of the stuff you pledged to do slide. For better or worse, it's the nature of resolving things.

'Tis the season and the web is full of wise words about resolutions. I'm throwing my hat in with a variation on the theme: this New Year's Resolution Worksheet, a four-page starter kit for putting together resolutions that you might actually get done.

If you're in crisis right now, consider skipping resolutions–just getting through your current day-to-day is probably keeping you busy enough. But if you're going to set formal goals for yourself in 2010, take a look at the worksheet. It walks you step-by-step toward resolutions that are realistic, achievable, and meaningful. Once the resolutions are down on paper, the sheet asks you to give some thought to the steps you'll need to take to put the resolutions into action.

The notion is that starting out the year making promises to yourself that you don't really plan to keep is less than ideal. So, try this out: keep it simple, keep it doable, and see what happens. Maybe–just maybe–a year from now, your tour of resolutions past will be a ghost-free joy ride.

Best of luck and Happy New Year.

Will

Will Baum, LCSW

www.willbaum.com

An additonal thought: The worksheet encourages you to read your resolutions out loud to someone or to yourself. Another option: Post them in comments below. Let everyone know what your aiming to do in 2010.