Here we are three months into the New Year; how are those New Year's Resolutions going?

If you're like most folks you hit it like a boss for the first week or so and then, well, things came up, life happened.

If we're diligent we get back on the horse each time we're bucked off, and we all have been bucked often. Discipline and diligence ain't easy, if it were, everyone would be lean, fit, smart, charming, loving, richer people and, well, look around you-discipline is hard.

Now, we're not bad people for setting resolutions and getting bucked off the horse, the fact that you took the time to set them in the first place shows at least the seeds of ambition. What speaks to who we are is if we strive to get back on the horse, stay in the saddle for longer durations, and spend as little time as possible on the ground when bucked-that is, get bucked, get back on that horse, Cowboy.

Easier said than done, right? It'd be nice if we had a little help, some tips on how to stay saddled when bucking seems imminent.

Well, we might be able to look to the Greek epic poem Ulysses (aka The Odyssey) for a little help. In the poem Homer has the hero Ulysses travelling hither and thither in his long meandering journey to return home after the Trojan War. In true epic style our hero has many adventures which he faces, well, heroically. Ulysses is one disciplined on-top-of-it man of action, but sometimes even heroes need a little help from their friends to stay disciplined.

Let's turn to one of Ulysses' most famous adventures...

The Sirens were the daughters of the river god Achelous. They were renowned for their agonizingly beautiful singing that they would use to lure sailors who would guide their ships too closely to treacherous reefs to get a better hearing of the Sirens' songs. Upon these rocky reefs the men would perish.

Our hero Ulysses having heard of the legends of the Sirens without having heard their song comes up with an idea to experience the song without losing his life. He has his men stuff their ear canals with wax so that they will be impervious to the song and before the wax-stuffing are told by Ulysses to lash him to the mast and not to release him no matter how much he pleads.

If a stalwart hero needs a little mast-lashing and/or stuffed ears help from his friends to do what needs to be done, I see no reason why we can't follow his example. We've all got our personal Sirens, be they the internet, video games, the newest episode of Justified, double-cheese pizza, texting like a feverish fourteen-year-old girl, you name it, we've all got a Siren. Now, how can we use Ulysses' examples to help us beat the sirens in our lives? Well, Ulysses gives us three ways.

A little help from friends. Let them steer your rough waters for you.

Complete avoidance-wax in ears.

Restraint-Lash yourself to the mast.

Let's take each one and walk it through some example Sirens.

Wanna train more, exercise more, start that new lean and mean diet? Misery loves company, recruit a like-minded friend. Almost any activity is more enjoyable with company, but committing to a friend or friends adds a level of "Man, I'd love to skip the gym tonight, but I told Scott I would be there." Admittedly, this strategy will only work if you've chosen the right friend(s) in your task. If they are prone to bail, you may wind up with two disappointed people instead of just you. It's wise to pick a steady sailor you can trust to do the job.

If your heroic task requires no actual participation from your partner you can also use them as spot-checkers. For example, your friend may not be willing to become your workout partner but you can give them carte blanche to ask you each and every day:

"Did you train today?"

"What did you do?"

"For how long?"

Allow them the liberty slag off on you (good naturedly) for each of your back-slides, let them lord it over you. This bit of annoyance-avoidance is sometimes enough motivation for some.

Wax in the Ears. This is nothing short of the removal of your tempting Siren. Think you'll eat all the cake in your house? Throw them out. Remove all cake and sweet sirens from your home while you learn your new heroic ways.

The Internet or video games your drug of choice? Kill it. Disable your Internet for 21 days, or as long as it takes for you to establish your new habit. Give your game console to a friend or family member and tell them don't let me have this until this date, no matter how much I beg.

Lash to the Mast. Wax in ears requires the complete removal of the siren in question, whereas lashing to the mast allows periodic or limited exposure to your siren. These can come in the form of diet cheat days where you are scrupulous six days per week but come Saturday-look out Gigi's Cupcakes. Or, you limit your TV to a strict two hours per day-you'll pick and choose your viewing far more carefully than if you just allow unlimited viewing.

Lashing to the mast can also be used in all forms of personal electronic devices; there are numerous apps and software that will allow you to control/limit/restrict your usage of your siren device of choice.

Any single one of the three tips may be what works for you, or it may be a combination of any or all of them. You may find that different sirens require different tactics, perhaps a workout buddy is all that's required for your physical training goal, but your online time-wasting requires some wax in the ears software. Whatever works is whatever works.

The key to getting going, no matter what your goal or project is, is to get going now-right now. This very moment.

Not tomorrow. Today. A good assessment question to ask yourself every day is not "What is it you hope to do tomorrow?" But rather "What is it you wish you had done yesterday?"

However you answer that question about yesterday, do that thing right now. You build your tomorrows by what you do today.

Don't wait until tomorrow.

Epictetus, offered this retort to a student who professed grand plans of learning and moral deeds he was planning on starting the next day:

"So, tomorrow you shall be a good man, what does that make you today?"

Ouch!

If we applied this logic to all grand plans in our lives we can see that un-stated opposite in each pronouncement we make:

"Tomorrow I'll start that diet, today I shall be fat."

"I'll train hard starting tomorrow, today I am lazy."

So, I ask you what are you doing today?

What do you wish you did yesterday?