New Year’s resolutions

The time has come again for a new year. Usually the new year brings with it a host of “resolutions.” My belief, though, is that these resolutions, while being quite well-intentioned, are misguided. People make resolutions like “This year I will lose weight” or “This year I will be healthier” or “This year I will do better in my Church service.” While these are all great goals, they are not going to be effective, and will be forgotten by the third week of January. It’s great to have goals and to strive to be better – we should all do that. However, these resolutions are not going to work because they are not specific enough. They don’t address the issue of “how.” How are these things going to happen? In order for a goal to be effective, it needs to be specific and address how it will be accomplished. For example: “I want to be healthier, so I’m going to plan my meals ahead of time, instead of eating fast food.” This is much more specific, and tells how the goal will be accomplished. I just think that these vague resolutions are just set-ups for failure.
I also believe, though, that New Year’s resolutions are quite overrated! What is going to be different on Jan 1 than Dec 31? What magically changes? Unless you are willing to make actual lifestyle changes, nothing is really going to be different. I think people make New Year’s resolutions because it’s the thing to do, or because they have unrealistic hopes. People that want to make real changes in their lives aren’t going to do so just because it is a new year, and they won’t wait for the new year to do it.
With all that in mind, I’m not going to make any New Year’s resolutions. I’m just going to keep on working on improving myself by drawing closer to the Savior. This is an ongoing process that has absolutely nothing to do with the New Year. But then again, real life changes don’t have anything to do with the date!