How many new year resolutions have you made in your life time? How many have you followed through with?

Maybe this will give you an idea as to why I usually dislike hearing new year resolutions. People make a few mistakes when they decide upon theirs:

• Making too many. I’ve heard people promise themselves an entire bucket list. Not going to happen.
• Unrealistic wishes. Sometimes we tell ourselves we need to do something that just won’t happen, like a trip that takes years to save for or accomplishing something you know just isn’t your thing.
• Focusing on short-term. Sometimes we don’t realize long term effects of our promises, or forget them after January altogether.
• Negativity. I feel that instead of thinking about all the things in your life you want to change next year, realize how amazing your life is already. Some people scramble to find a resolution. If you don’t have one, is that really a problem? Sometimes bettering yourself isn’t a conscious process, but something that happens gradually.

Are resolutions evil? Of course not. But I think we often get carried away. Want to better yourself next year? So do I! Instead of resolutions, I recommend finding one thing you want to see a change in next year. Put your heart and soul into making that happen, but take it slowly. Want to run? Start walking every other day. Want to write a novel? Draft a few lines every day after breakfast. Want to put your life back together? Pick one little thing that would make a difference and fix it. One by one make your way to your goal. This will keep you from burning out and allow you to focus on one simple thing that will enhance your life.

What’s your resolution for 2012 and how will you approach it? And of course, wishing all of you lovely people a Happy New year!

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We are now unbelievably in the year 2010. I noticed that I’m not the only one that had a hard time with 2009. While the year brought about a few wonderful things and some life-changing events, it was also one of the toughest years I’ve experienced. I’m looking forward to 2010 being a good year to appreciate relationships and better myself!

Has anyone made new year resolutions? I haven’t, aside from the point I made above. When I went to my morning gym workout today I noticed quite a few people had made resolutions…  I’m usually the only one in the gym at the time I go in, and this time it was pretty full. Funny thing is, I bet I will never see them there again after a few weeks. It’s hard to declare a bunch of goals in January and continue them until December. This is really because people forget, lose track, or lose interest in what they pledged those early morning hours of January 1st.

I realized this years ago and decided to make general goals rather than specific ones. Here are a few great articles that may help you, if you have goals for 2010 or (like me) consider January a month for revamp:

• The Definitive Guide to Sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions - Zen Habits
• The Habit Cheat Sheet - Zen Habits
• Ten Things to Do Before the New Year – Web Worker Daily
• Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: January 2010 – Smashing Magazine
• Getting to Done: Fresh Start for the New Year – Lifehacker
• Choose 6 habits for 2010 – 6 Changes
• Seven Ways to Start the New Year Right – FSM
• What do you want to do in 2010? - 43 Things

What does January hold for me? Lots of cleaning. (If you know me, this is one of my hobbies…) I’ll be going through all of my stuff and donating a good chunk of it to charity (or throwing it out if it’s useless), completely moving into the apartment, cleaning places that really need it, refreshing a few old layout designs, making appointments I’ve been putting off, fixing or replacing things that I’ve been meaning to fix or replace, and giving my dog a good scrub down.