Be RESOLVED

2010 is here and with it the usual hopes of a better year and becoming a better person. January 1st means making a list of things I want to do better, things that will make me better. I was on my honeymoon this January 1st, and with adjusting to marriage, moving to a new apartment, and getting back in the grind of law school, my resolutions have been slow forming. No worries. I have all but forgotten them.

For me, resolutions require inspiration. Often inspiration comes from others as resolutions become the topic of conversation. This year, however, New Year resolutions have seemingly gone out of style. People just aren't making resolution like they used to. I have seen all kinds of resolution fill ins. Instead of making actual RESOLUTIONS, people are creating themes for the year. They pick one word that will be the undercurrent for their "growth" this year. OK. If that makes creating a goal easier for you...go for it.

Some I have spoken to have said that they don't believe in resolutions. Why make a list of things to accomplish if I will never accomplish them? Why set myself up to fail? To this I say, if you never try, you have failed already.

This leads me to believe that people don't get what resolutions are. A Resolution = A GOAL. Making resolutions is more than just writing a list of things you want to accomplish. It is making a plan for how you will accomplish it. Unless your resolutions are specific and time bound, of course you are going to fail at them. You haven't give yourself any responsibility to achieve it. You haven't provided the way for you to achieve it.

Now don't be too hard on yourself when making these goals. If your favorite pastime is sitting on the couch watching T.V. and you haven't put on sneakers in 10 years, saying you are going to work out at the gym two hours a day, six days a week is a pretty hard place to start. Maybe that can be your end result, but start with something smaller. It's OK to start slow. How about just making a goal to go on a walk everyday. There, that's more manageable and you are less likely to drop it after two weeks.

True, you don't need the start of a new year to begin setting goals. Heck, I've waited 20 days to put mine down on paper. But let's not say we aren't going to even attempt at being better people; that we aren't even going to address making changes in our lives. For when we stop trying to be better, that is when we become worse. We never stay the same. We are either growing or shrinking, moving forward or back. And unless we continue to progress, our families, our communities, our nation, our world won't progress.

So dust off those ambitions! Break out those aspirations! Make a plan today for who you want to be and how you will get there. I know this is A LOT easier said that done. But we CAN do it! It is in us. As George Elliot said, "It is never too late to be what you might have been."