Not a program person!

Ready to make your New Years Resolutions? Going to quit smoking? Drinking? Overspending? Undervaluing yourself? Good luck with that.

I have a friend who is a "program person". You know the type: If weight loss is her goal, she writes a check to the gym, joins the 7AM Tuesday & 6PM Thursday step classes, purchases a bunch of sleek aerodynamic workout clothes, new bouncy shoes, buys the book "Grapefruit Fasts for Every Figure" and begins her countdown. After missing the first Thursday step class, she decides the whole thing is quite useless, the grapefruits are not as tasty as she recalls and she'll wait untill next January to try again. Let's call that a $650 effort toward her goal to lose 10 pounds.

We know the same people who do this with other quests. Want a new career? Take one semi-related class, buy some career books, buy a new resume software program, get tired of the whole idea, drop the class, use the books to hold a door ajar, blah, blah, blah.

Having been raised by a self-respecting AA drop out, I did pick up at least one useful tidbit of life guidance: Take things one day at a time. This is how addicts approach quitting. Just try to quit for today. If you need to start again tomorrow, cool. I feel the same way about weight loss, career planning, physical fitness, etc... Just look at today.

Try this at the start of your day: Have a list of 5 big picture goals for the year. Let's not even call them goals, that is way too much pressure. How about "My Things"? Maybe your My Things List includes

1. Better Marriage
2. Steadily Reducing Debt
3. Job Promotion
4. Organized and Tidy Kitchen
5. Be Healthier

Print about 15 copies of this sheet. Each day, have a goal to have taken at least one step toward one thing becoming a reality. An entry next to better marriage might be something like this...Kissed him before leaving for work. Write theses things down. How simple is that? Some days you may be a super-achiever and have several entries, wow! fantastic.

Here is my point with this: If you screw up, it is only one day! Each day we make thousands of minuscule decisions that impact our big picture Things. Just try to make mostly good decisions each day. Highly structured changes don't come easy. And grapefruit just gets plain old boring!