by Shari Garmise

Created on: December 26, 2009   Last Updated: December 27, 2009

New Year's resolutions are not worth making but yearly goals with action plans are.  When we identify and write down goals that are important to us, and review them regularly, we are more likely to make decisions that lead us to the goals we want to achieve.

New Year's resolutions often seem to focus on immediate issues such as losing the five extra holiday pounds or on-going issues that we have yet to solve, such as losing the extra 25 pounds that we have been carrying around the past five years.   In these situations, the New Year seems to act simply as a start date and there is no particular reason it should be more effective than the last diet start date.

The New Year as an annual life milestone, however, can be a great catalyst for transformation. To achieve this level of transformation or goal achievement, it assumes you are setting goals you want to really want make happen and developing some sort of plan with interim milestones to attain them.   

In other words, first determine what you really want to achieve in your life. Do you want a new degree, change jobs, finish that novel in your drawer, strengthen your relationship with your children, buy a house, pay off debts, move to a sunnier climate?

Second, figure out what you need to actually do to achieve that goal. If you want to buy a house, you would need to first determine your status (e.g. credit rating, available financing for a down payment). You would then identify steps you will need to implement to achieve your goal such as figuring out the towns or neighborhoods you might want to live in and their average housing prices, calculating how much you would need to save for a down payment, and finding recommendations for a good real estate agent. 

Third, it also helps to develop a time line to keep the plan moving. Using the house-buying example, the time line might include reviewing your status by February first, and having the town/neighborhood research completed by March one.  Finally, you might want to review your achievements periodically such as every quarter or mid-year.

With dream-inspired goals in place, the New Year becomes an important milestone to review where you are in terms of achieving them. If you attained your goal, then it becomes a good time to celebrate your accomplishments and set new ones.  If things got in the way, such as the most current recession, the New Year presents an opportunity to renew those goals, rethink your plan and make any corrective actions to keep moving toward the life goals that are important to you.

New Year's resolutions are only worth it if they are part of a goal-setting process to achieve your dreams. If you just want to lose five pounds, you can do that anytime.

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