I know that the time has come and gone for making New Year’s resolutions—the official ones, anyway. But just like every morning brings a new day, doesn’t every day bring a new year? Of course it does! So today is the first day of your new year, isn’t it? What are you going to do with it?

Christine Kane talks about New Year’s resolutions, and why they seldom work, in You Say You Want a Resolution…. Her solution? One word. One word for the whole year, that you focus on every day. A word that you keep in front of you, at the forefront of your daily living, a word that when you see or hear it reminds you of what you want to accomplish for the coming year.

She says it better than I can:

One year I just decided to revolt against resolutions. I had my very own “resolution revolution.” I decided to simplify, to focus, and to be gentle about the approach. Here it is:

Pick a word for the year.

Just one word. That’s all.

Then, hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action. For instance, let’s say you want to make a resolution to lose 20 pounds, and to change jobs. Rather than say, “I resolve to lose 20 pounds and get a better job,” (which can be somewhat overwhelming) you might sit with this thought for a little while. Write in your journal. Maybe then you would recognize that you’ve been scared to look for another job because there might not be something out there, and maybe you’ve been overeating to stuff down the fears that come up and the feelings of insecurity.

So, instead of making resolutions - which do little to inspire you - you choose the word “courage.” Courage then becomes what guides you. Each day you focus on that word. When you don’t want to go to the gym, you don’t berate yourself with the threat of your resolution. Instead, you motivate yourself with your word. “Courage.” You say it aloud to remind yourself. And you go because learning how to not be scared of change is exciting to you. The word then builds on itself. You might decide to take a yoga class even though the skinny yoga girls have always scared you. You might find that you have a little more energy with each new thing you try. Maybe this energy motivates you to call an old friend in your field and let her know you are looking for another job. Courage becomes the guiding force, not the harsh standard. (And WAY better for you than a pound of bacon and four eggs for breakfast, too!)

My word this year? FOCUS.

Too much distracts me. Rather, I let myself get distracted easily. ADD, if you will. I know if I went to an M.D. and described my day, they’d jump and down for joy if they owned stock in the pharaceutical company that owned the drug they were about to prescribe for me!

My mind goes a mile a minute, sometimes in directions it shouldn’t, and by the time I notice I’m off track I can’t even see the track any more! That has led me on some interesting journeys, though…

So what’s your word for your new year? Leave a comment and share!

If you’d like an awe-inspiring diversion for a few minutes, try taking a trip to the Hubble Telescope web site and look at their image collection. Some of the photographs will make your jaw drop. Contemplating the universe itself will have your head spinning just like a planet…

I don’t often link to Steve Pavlina’s blog — not because he doesn’t have anything good to say, he does — but mainly because everybody else links to it and I have a basic aversion to being like everyone else
Today, though, I’m going to because I think he makes an important point that a lot of people (including myself) miss when the set out to accomplish more in their lives. The point is that you have to believe that you already posses that which you want, whether it’s a personal quality, material goods, or whatever. You have to be that which you want to be. Sounds like a conundrum, and almost impossible, doesn’t it?

Tony Robbins touches on it in his Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! book, in the chapter on identity. Wendy Piersall can also tell you of the power of an identity change.

The short version is that until you are so immersed in your accomplishment that you know without a doubt that what you want is you, you will hinder your desire’s achievement. You have to be in the place that any contrary behavior is completely foreign to your being. For instance, if your goal is to be a non-smoker, you have to be in the place where when you get up in the morning, the thought of smoking a cigarette either doesn’t occur to you, or it fills you with such distaste that you consider it only for a moment. You ARE a non-smoker. You don’t like cigarettes, and you can’t understand what attracts people to them.

Anyway, check out the podcast at StevePavlina.com Podcast #018 - Faster Goal Achievement for further enlightenment on this important concept.