Celebrate 2008! - Part 1

In just a few days we will be celebrating on of the world's oldest holidays - the beginning of a new year. The earliest records of its celebration date back to approximately 4,000 years ago. The Babylonians celebrated it on March 23 back then and their civilization is credited with introducing the practice of New Year's Resolutions. Their common resolution was to return something that they had borrowed from a friend, family member or neighbor.

The Roman Empire used a different calendar and they celebrated their New Year on January 1 by exchanging gifts. In fact, the first month was named for the Roman god, Janus, the god of beginnings and endings and the guardian of gates, doors and doorways. He was always depicted as having two faces - one facing forward looking to the future and one facing back towards the past. The common resolution among the Romans was to seek forgiveness from their enemies.

January 1st is just around the corner and I am sure that many of us are preparing to uphold the age-old tradition of making (and breaking) New Year's Resolutions. While many of us may make our resolutions out of a sense of tradition, I am certain that many more would actually like to see those changes occur in our lives. The reason I believe this so strongly is because the top three resolutions that people make each year have to do with three major problems in today's society. The most popular type of resolutions that people make are health-related goals. These include losing weight, exercising more, stop smoking and so on. Financial resolutions come in a close second with increasing savings, getting out of debt, avoiding excessive spending, etc. The third most popular type of resolutions are relationship goals. These resolutions may be to make amends with friends or family members, try to be more patient with coworkers, improve your communications skills, and so on. Do any of these sound like ones you have made?

The sad fact is that this ancient tradition is a declining one. Now less than 50% of Americans even make a resolution. Why is that? Probably because only 15% of those that make them ever manage to keep them. Most of them die out before the end of January. For those die-hards who make it make it past the first month, very few survive past June.

A Department of Labor survey of adults asked what the biggest issue was that prevented people from keeping their New Year's Resolutions. The top three answers were procrastination (33%), lack of self-discipline (24%) and no game plan (19%).

Do people just not understand what a resolution really is? If you look it up in the dictionary it says that a resolution is "the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc." In short, it is a decision to change your life for the better because the decisions we make AND ACT ON today will determine the type of future we will live tomorrow!

I challenge you to CELEBRATE the coming new year. I'm not talking about going out and partying hearty well past midnight on December 31. I mean really celebrate this new year from January 1 through December 31 by making it the best year of your life so far! And the best way to do this is to make AND KEEP your New Year's Resolutions.

Over the next four days I will be covering topics that will help you to gain a better understanding of why resolutions are important, how to set effective and exciting resolutions and tips and techniques for making sure you keep them throughout the whole year ... and beyond. So come back tomorrow for Part 2 of Celebrate 2008!