Today is the traditional day for setting a New Year’s resolution. So, in keeping with the tradition, here it goes:

My resolution: “I will not make New Year’s resolutions”

There you have it. What I have learned over the past few years is that New Year’s resolutions are destined to fail. Don’t believe me. Go to any gym in your community in the next week and simply observe. Watch the sheer masses of people, new folks signing up for membership, people waiting in line for a machine or a stack of free weights, etc. Now, go back to the same gym some time in March and you will see a barren dessert of open equipment. The crowds have thinned out, you have easy access to the machines and the gym owner has made a lot of money off well-intended, would be health nuts.

No, New Year’s resolutions usually fail. The primary reason they fail is…failure. Let me explain. Most of the items on a New Year’s resolution list are things that we have struggled with achieving in the past. So, for some reason, we are already pre-disposed to lose. The first time that we fail, we have a tendency to give up because it is just too hard to make this change. We think “Perhaps next year”.

So, the key is smaller increments. Certainly smaller than a year! Let me give you an example. Let’s suppose that you are working to eat better. Appropriate portion size, the right balance of protein, grains and fruits/vegetables, etc. You do great for breakfast, but at lunch you go to your favorite italian place and simply can’t resist the extra slice (ok 2) of pizza and the Gelato (ok 2). The question is: What about dinner? Your best bet is to eat a good, appropriately portioned, well balanced dinner. The last thing you want to do is give up and eat everything in sigh. The second to the last thing you want to do is skip dinner and

This year, don’t make a resolution, make a commitment. A commitment to yourself not to give up and not to give in. A commitment that failure is not fatal to your goals and that failure this morning, does not mean that you must fail this afternoon.