by Laurie Childree

Created on: December 02, 2008   Last Updated: January 19, 2009

Why New Year's Resolutions don't work is something that many of us wonder right as the New Year finishes its first month. We had the best of intentions not to break our resolutions but we managed to break them before the year ever really began. We torture ourselves over our self declared failures not really understanding why it's a failure. What we fail to realize is that the breaking of our New Year's Resolutions isn't our fault at all. The mere idealization of the resolution process is designed to set us up for failure.

Each year right after Christmas we begin to look forward to another year. At this time we start to make resolutions of things we are going to achieve during the New Year. These are usually in the form of rather large goals that even the most organized, compulsive people would have difficulty achieving the way they are set. While we are setting these goals we give no thought to the fact that we as human beings do not posses supernatural abilities to move mountains. The result is all too often a feeling of overwhelming failure and disappointment.

These promises range from weight loss, savings to overall self improvement. All too often we vow to lose obscene amounts of weight and save thousands of dollars each year. We are so busy wondering why the scales aren't moving we forget we have to move to get off the pounds. We are so busy wondering why are savings accounts aren't in the millions of dollar balances that we forget to change our spending habits and put money into the account. All of the resolutions we set require action that as humans we often over look in favor of doing things our way and make no changes to our lives at all.

Ever notice how no matter how hard you try to you don't manage to keep those New Year's resolutions that you make each year? Every year you begin to get frustrated as the goals you set for yourself seem to slip farther a way from you but it's not your fault you didn't manage to make them work. New Year's resolutions don't work in reality because of the way that we set them.

The New Year's resolution is a strange creature that takes the form of gigantic promises to our selves about what we will and won't do. They are usually set to begin the first day of the New Year which makes room for error scarce and as humans we will make errors. The idea that a new year means a new beginning is a fantasy that we create for ourselves, while change is often good it doesn't have to fall onto us all at once.

The idea of changing large

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