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Against the tide

My Favorite Time of Year

Posted by: Rhonda Robinson

Sunday, December 31, 2006 9:05 AM

New Year's Day falls just below Christmas and rivals spring in my book. There are no gifts to buy, no feasts to prepare, and although there are no new buds on the trees, new gardening catalogs are arriving daily. It is a time to make plans, set goals and take a fresh running start at life. Here's my recipe for making New Year's resolutions work.

First, set realistic and obtainable goals that you can reach in January. Never, and I mean never set an ambiguous goal. Like, this year I want to lose 30 pounds. Instead, make your resolution that this year you will join a health club or gym, then do it before the end of January.

Second, set a goal for a little self indulgence. This is especially helpful for mothers who stay on a pretty strict diet of self-depravation. (You know who you are! You are still sleeping in sweat pants and your husband's old T-shirt and haven't painted your toenails since last spring.) Set a plan for something you would like to do but have denied yourself; lunch with a girlfriend or an afternoon of after-Christmas sale shopping. Or an indulgent bubble bath followed by your favorite chick-flick (my current favorite is Pride and Prejudice).

Take the first ingredient; make it a (or several) goal(s) and set concrete dates and deadlines, and make sure that at least the first couple can be completed within the month of January. Success builds on success, once you have January check marked, you will have the internal fortitude to face the rest of your goals.

Always follow the completion of the first with the second ingredient; a reward of some kind. We all have things we have wanted to do, and just haven't given ourselves permission because there is always something else that needs done.

I read a billboard once that changed my life, well--at least what I think about life, it read something like this; if you could be assured that what ever you wanted to do, you would not fail–what would you do?

A sobering thought for a happy New Year