I’ll State The Obvious: December is a month filled with religious ritual. Pick a denomination, and I’ll bet you lunch it’s got a ritual in December. But December also has an important and sometimes overlooked secular ritual — resolution making for the year ahead. While the stresses of shopping for gifts on a budget and preparations for tedious (or tenuous) family gatherings can leave some feeling anxious, resolution-making can bring on the same unsavory side effects. And if all these tetchy sentiments come from making resolutions, imagine the distresses that arise from keeping them.

With regard to resolution making, people seem to fall into one of three categories: 1. those who deliberate over their resolutions and follow them adamantly, finding exactly the areas of their life that need fine-tuning; 2. those who select somewhat laughable resolutions and follow them with the same light-hearted air; 3. those who abhor the entire premise of resolutions, resolving only to never make another one as long as they live. It might be tempting to assume that many successful individuals populate the first category, fulfilling all their ambitions and becoming self-actualized while sitting in the CEO’s chair. Meanwhile those whose discipline cracks under pressure could be lumped into the third group, resigned to accept the inertia of their ho-hum lives. But of course, to state the obvious once more, the divisions are not quite so simple.

Making resolutions works wonderfully for some people. For others, there are better ways to a better lifestyle. Recent polls by the General Nutrition Center have shown that upwards of 85 percent of Americans make at least one New Year’s resolution. However, only about 20 percent actually keep the resolutions they make. Not surprisingly, health and fitness-related resolutions are some of the most popular, with 55 percent of the resolution-making world promising to eat healthier, 50 percent committing to exercise more and 38 percent vowing to lose weight. Unfortunately these sorts of resolutions can be some of the toughest to keep.

The paradox of wanting to make real life changes but having difficulty following through has created a niche for companies like www.mygoal.com, which purports itself as the leading site for setting and managing personal and professional goals. Personalized goal fulfillment solutions as well as pre-fab “GoalPlans” for resolutions as varied as losing ten pounds, paying off debt, becoming fluent in a language or learning more about wine are all for sale.

There are also more well-known techniques for staying on course that don’t come with a price tag. For example, the Mayo Foundation offers four basic steps to help increase your chances of keeping your word. First, put it in writing. Better yet, put that writing in a place where you’ll see it regularly. Second, be vocal about your goals. You don’t have to broadcast your aspirations to everybody, but having someone else know about the commitment you’ve made will make you more likely to keep it. Third, come up with contingency plans for what you’re going to do when your resolve is tested. If you’ve promised to quit smoking, ask yourself what you are going to do when the first cigarette break of 2005 comes to pass, or when you’re offered a smoke on a night out. Consider the situations where you’re likely to fold in advance — because they’re sure to arise — and have at least one back-up plan. Lastly, make sure that your goals are scaled realistically. Small steps lead to big changes. Setting goals that are too ambitious can easily result in a zero net gain.

When establishing a strategy for sticking to your resolutions, it’s important to take a look at the reasons why you haven’t been able to accomplish these things before. Not to devastate your resolution dream before it starts, but if you’ve tried and failed to conquer a 10K with sheer willpower in the past, what makes you think that willpower will do the trick again?

Another way people reduce their likelihood of success is by making too many promises. People are more apt to spread themselves thin with resolutions — trying to do a dozen things differently rather than focusing all of their energy on the one thing that they will do. Life and Wellness Coach Susan Creal writes, “When you say ‘Well, at least I tried’, ask what does ‘trying’ mean to you? I work on this specific issue with my clients and help them change the word ‘try’ into ‘I will’ until it becomes automatic. It takes practice, but using this strategy will eventually stop the awful ‘resolution failure cycle.’”

Other experts emphasize that resolution writing should be fun. There’s already too much in life that isn’t. You’re in charge of your resolutions, so decide that even when your deepest discipline reserves are called on, it’s not going to stop being fun. After all, this is for you.
For example, if your resolution is to exercise, don’t equate exercise with punishment. If you think that exercise is a painful obligation that prevents you from doing what you’re actually interested in, you’re probably not going to stick with it. Instead, try to tell yourself that it’s a good way to boost your energy, that it can improve your mood, that it’s a reward for your body, and that it’s a way to improve your quality of life immediately. If you can’t believe in these statements, then maybe you should channel your resolve into other things that make your life healthier but don’t mandate the aspects of exercise you find so unpalatable. After all, it’s not “regimented exercise” per se that’s so important, but activity.

Finding the proper attitude for following through with your resolutions doesn’t have to involve performing reverse-psychology on yourself either. One gentleman I know, a successful professional and recent father who grew up in South Carolina, resolves every year to “eat less squirrel.” Said with a smile, this ritual is more of a mental exercise that plays on the extremes of attainability and unattainability, insuring that he enters his resolution-keeping season with a balanced perspective. As ridiculous as it may seem, his theory goes a little something like this: It should be easy to turn down a plate of squirrel. However, assuming that he didn’t eat squirrel this year, he can’t eat any less next year. All of his resolutions will be harder to follow day in and day out than passing up squirrel, but they will all be more successful than his efforts to eat less squirrel.

Speaking of dietary resolutions, many people will be resolving to eat fewer grams of carbohydrates in 2005. One way to phrase this goal is as stated above: to commit to generally cutting down on carbs. However, a more effective resolution might be to consume a specific quantity of carbohydrates, not to be exceeded in the course of a single day. Another option would be a commitment to eat certain reduced-carbohydrate foods at the exclusion of their high-carb standbys. Still another could be to choose more fiber, instead of sugar, as registered dietitian Mark G. Glen suggests.

In the fight for a fiber-rich and sugar-spared diet, Glen offers some tangible strategies. With nearly one gram of sugar in each ounce of soda, he picks soft drink reduction as an area for quick gains. Glen suggests that consumption of soft drinks should be limited to one a day. He also recommends whole-wheat pastas and whole grain breads as a way to substitute fiber for simple sugars. Consumers should look for breads that have three grams of fiber per slice and pastas that contain three grams of fiber per serving. For anyone who doubts the value of a high-fiber diet, remember that fiber may lower blood cholesterol levels and slow the absorption of sugar. A high-fiber diet may also reduce the risk of developing adult-onset (type 2) diabetes.

Certainly, resolutions for a healthier lifestyle shouldn’t be constrained to plans for more rigorous activity or more discerning eating habits. Prevention specialist Robin G. Molella suggests resolving to nurture one’s relationships with work colleagues, family, friends and neighbors. “People who feel anchored to the community are better able to face the trials and tribulations of life. It makes you more resilient,” she says. Some of the best resolutions come when we’ve determined that our priorities are off-kilter. Often it takes another set of eyes to show us how we’ve deviated from the balanced path we’d hoped to follow.

Reinstating balance into one’s life can take an array of bodily and spiritual forms. For instance, it would be hard to miss the droves of people who have turned to yoga in recent years for an experience that combines physical rigor and mental serenity. Noticing yoga’s vast appeal, companies like Bodywisdom Media have developed 20 to 60 minute yoga workouts that cater to athletes who specialize in other sports. For example, there are yoga workouts designed to complement running, skiing, soccer, cycling, swimming, football, hiking, tennis, baseball, golf, weightlifting and martial arts. Similarly, some of the most popular yoga classes today are hybrids — innovative combinations that pair yoga with similar activities like Pilates, martial arts and even sports like rock climbing and scuba diving which would appear to have nothing in common with yoga. The benefits of these unlikely pairings are that they can invigorate a routine that has otherwise become blasé, while at the same time introducing new workouts. Hybrid workouts can also help those who enjoy yoga, but would like to practice it at a less intense level.

Self-Awareness & Following Serendipity
A resolution that people often turn to when they want to establish a more stable course is simply to be more aware of their bodies. Put another way, this means listening to yourself more closely. This is easier said than done, but it’s an invaluable skill. For some, self-awareness means being able to gauge whether or not the extra hours at the office are worth the hours given up in leisure and family activities. For others it means detecting areas of stress that are still small enough to handle manageably. Generally, as people become better suited to listening to themselves, they find more freedom to follow serendipity — a personal leeway that proves a great remedy when life gets stressful.

With good reason, resolutions to reinstate balance are subject to many different interpretations. Following serendipity can be interpreted as allowing oneself a night out with friends when the original plan was to spend the night at home. Yet others might take the approach that though serendipitous living means seeing Paris this spring, it is probably more sensible to wait another year.

Giving Back
The sort of serendipitous living described above might strike some as frivolous. A typical counter to those sentiments is to attain better life balance through fiscal temperance. However, when people talk about resolving to repay their debts, sometimes they hope to undertake more than making out a check to MasterCard.

It could mean calling up the teacher who really showed you how to think about things, or the mentor who was so generous with her time. A young woman in Miami tells about how she decided to confide to a teacher how much it had meant to her that she was put in a gifted program as a first grader. Later, it came back to her that the teacher had cried with joy to hear such a wonderful compliment. Hearing stories like this certainly to do as much good for the heart as a run around the block or a whole-wheat sandwich.

When it comes time to write resolutions this season, remember that the key to long-term success is staying motivated. Whatever your goals may be, reviewing them at various intervals throughout the year can reinvigorate a languishing program. Remember what it was that made you decide that this would be a meaningful change. Finally, think back to when you felt that this was something important enough to make a sacrifice for and try to bring those feelings back within reach.