Reward Yourself to Keep Your Resolutions

By Karen Susman

Thoughts of resolutions follow on the heels of thoughts of sugarplums. Lose ten pounds – again. Get your taxes completed by January 3rd. Save more. Buy less. Reduce carbs. Clean your office. Learn a foreign language. Join a gym. Actually go to the gym.

It's exciting to get a fresh chance to make major life changes in 2005. What is disheartening is not breaking the resolutions, but discovering that you have made the same resolutions every year since Nixon was elected to seventh grade student council.

Here are some ways to avoid making the same resolutions over and over:

1. Make your goals specific, measurable and realistic. Instead of resolving to lose weight, resolve to lose one pound a week. That's specific. That's measurable and realistic. Caution: this doesn't mean losing the same pound every week.
   
   
2. Resolve to take specific actions that will lead you to your goals. For instance, resolve to walk three days a week during your lunch hour. Save more by brewing your own coffee instead of living in latte land. You'll save $15 a week and $780 a year.
   
   
3. Set benchmarks and deadlines so you'll stay on track.
   
   
4. Make only two or three resolutions.
   
   
5. Enlist a resolution buddy who knows your goals and deadlines. Check in regularly. Support your buddy's resolution efforts.
   
   
6. Set up regular rewards. Don't wait until you have achieved your final goals to reward yourself.
   
   
7. Don't beat yourself up because you now weigh twenty pounds more than the weight you used to think you were fat at. Start fresh with where you are today in every area of your life.
   
   
8. Gather three days in a row of new behavior. You'll hate to go backwards on the fourth day. Build on those days. As Abraham Lincoln said, "I may walk slowly, but I never walk backwards."
   
   
9. If you slip, draw a mental fence around your slip, step outside the fence, close the gate and move forward on the resolution trail. Don't look back. The sooner you draw the mental fence and lock the gate each time, the quicker you can get back on track. Just remember to lock yourself out not in.
   
   
10. If January finds you already stuffing your resolutions in the trashcan, stop! There are numerous opportunities to resolve anew. The Chinese New Year starts on February 9, 2005. If spring and summer find you unresolved, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins October 3. Start then.
    

Don't toss your list of resolutions. January 1, 2006 is only 89 days after the Jewish New Year. You can always use your same old list again in 2006. At least you will have accomplished your resolution to recycle.

Karen Susman is a Speaker, Trainer, Coach, and Author of 102 Top Dog Networking Secrets. Karen works with organizations that want to maximize performance. Programs include Humour at Work; Balance In Life; Networking Skills; Presentation Skills; and Building Community Involvement. Order new guidebooks on humour, networking, time management, and community involvement by calling 1-888-678-8818 or e-mail Karen@KarenSusman.com.. www.KarenSusman.com. Published in Networking Today, January 2005.