Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions

Looks like most North Americans are in a rut when it comes to making, and likely breaking, new year’s resolutions. The same resolutions keep coming up year after year.

The most common resolutions are:

• Spend more time with family and friends
• Exercise
• Lose weight
• Quit smoking
• Enjoy life more
• Quit drinking
• Get out of debt
• Learn something new
• Help others
• Get organized

I use the break between Christmas and New Year’s to review personal goals and objectives. And I assess the year past and plan the year coming. As such, I do not make any resolutions. I write out specific goals: what do I plan to make happen and by when. My goals and objectives are broken out into the following categories:

• Faith
• Family
• Finances
• Fitness
• Personal Development
• Career

I review where things are on a monthly basis and I treat the goals and objectives like a performance review.

I took this approach from Covey’s book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Works much better for me than making the same ad hoc new year’s resolutions year after year.