New Year's Resolutions - Fact or Fiction?
By: Dr. Tim

Many people make New Year’s resolutions, but most people drop their resolutions before the month of January is over.  There is a good reason for this; the resolutions people set are not real goals.  Most resolutions are made on a whim and lack meaning. Goals should be thought-out and have a defined plan with steps on how to accomplish them. 

There is nothing magical about January 1, but each year it traditionally brings with it the need to make resolutions.  I skip the resolutions.  For me, January 1st is a great opportunity to have a “life check-up,” where I look back at my goals and make adjustments accordingly to ensure I am on track to achieving them. 

I am currently in “hibernation mode.”  Every year I take off the week between Christmas and New Years Eve and do as little business as possible (lets face it, very little business gets done this week anyway). I use this time to analyze how I spent the last year and to decide how I can start planning for the next one.  My family and I also use this hibernation time to just spend time with each other.  It is a wonderful week.  I take out my journals and review how I did this year. What did I do right and what did I do wrong?  How could I have done better?  In addition, I pull out my goals list for 2009 and review it.  How did I do this year?  Which goals did I accomplish, and where did I come up short? 

As I was looking at my goal list for 2009 I realized a few things:

1) Goals are more than just “Yes” and “No”
Not all goals can simply be checked off as “yes” or “no”, so it is important to establish a grading system to help you evaluate your goals.  For example, one of my goals was to have a positive attitude all the time.  In order to say I achieved this goal as a “yes,” I would have had to have spent 365 consecutive days with a positive attitude, even when really bad news arrived.  It was much easier to grade how I did on staying positive than it would be to say I did or did not accomplish my goal of staying positive.  This is important.

2) Divide goals into areas
My goals are broken down into areas of my life, and I grade each area of my life as a whole.  This allows me to see how I am doing in each area and where I need to improve.  I noticed that my hobbies-fun-adventure category got the worst grades in 2009, signaling I spent too much time working and not enough time playing.  Since my life motto is “Work uber-hard, play even harder, have fun,” I know I must work on this goal in 2010.   

3) Not all goals still apply
I set a lot of goals last January, but some of the goals I set 12 months ago simply no longer apply.  The goals did not fail; the timing or priorities just changed.  Last year I set a goal to complete an expansion on my business.  While this seemed right at the time, my partners and I changed our minds as the year went on and decided to put the expansion off in order to focus on other business opportunities.

4) There is magic in paper
There is something magical about writing down a goal that pulls the forces of the universe together and makes them work for you.  I have set goals most of my life, and I have always written them down.  I believe in the magic of writing a goal down so much that I am careful on what I write down because I know it may become reality.

5) Failed goals can be new goals
Even if you don’t “accomplish” the goals you set, it is still worth having them.  Having a goal usually makes you do something, which is probably more than you would accomplish if you had no goal at all.  And later, when you take time to review your list of goals and set new ones, you can set a new plan for how to achieve the goals you didn’t achieve this year.

As we close out another year, I hope you can look back at the blessings brought to your life.  Next week I will teach you how to make 2010 even better. 

[Ed. Note:If you want to see how I reviewed my 2009, please click here.]

Take Back Your Life

Nine years ago, I was an emergency room physician living a miserable life and dreading going to work every day because of the monotony.

Then an event happened that changed my life and started me on a new path to living the life I'd always dreamed about.  Now I am still a physician, but I also take monthly vacations, own or am part owner of seven businesses and am a proud husband and father to five beautiful, talented, kids.

I want to help you change your life too.  If you want to follow my proven plan, The Polaris Principle, then pre-register to receive information about the new DVD Series and activity book I will release this January  in conjunction with Early to Rise and Total Health Breakthroughs.

Simply e-mail your name to iwantmylifeback@timreynoldsmd.com to be put on the contact list when the program that will positively change your life forever is released.