I enjoy making New Year’s resolutions.  The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on the year that was and set goals for the future. I find that organizing my goals in a journal is a useful way to keep track of them and to help me approach them with intention.

I have two suggestions for writing down your resolutions: be specific and enjoy the process. The more specific a goal, the easier it is to see it actualize. I recommend that you start by thinking about your values. Pick a few values that are important to you and associate them with relevant resolutions. Some things you might value include “integrity,” “love” and “health”. Regarding “health”, the most common resolution (and most commonly abandoned!) is to “lose weight.” This is where being specific is important. If you can visualize the steps, you are more likely to see them through. So, if your value is “health” and your resolution is “to lose weight,” the how may be by  “eliminating processed foods, refined carbohydrates and sugar and practicing  yoga 3x/week”.  If you cannot answer the “how,” don’t be discouraged. Take some time to do a little research and meditate on the things you can realistically do to make your resolutions reality.

Enjoy the process. Just because we are already one week in to 2010 does not make it too late to set resolutions for this year. Sometimes you need to have both feet planted in the new year to truly reflect on the past, and thus have a clearer vision of the future. This is about you and who you want to be. So take your time and have fun.

One of my resolutions (I’m still working on them) is to blog more. More specifically, expect a blog (and it is OK for them to be short and sweet) every week.

All the best for the start of this New Year!