Dump the New Year's Resolutions: Make Next Year a Release Revolution

By the DoItYourself.com Staff

New Year’s resolutions are like vampires. Although often born during fits of nocturnal soul-searching, they rarely see the light of day.

Since the survival rate of resolutions is low, I suggest skipping the annual rite. After all, many resolutions fail because they add one more darn thing to your schedule. Instead, let me show you how to create a life-changing, bad-habit-breaking New Year’s revolution by releasing what you don't need.

It is not necessary to have new goals in place by the first of January. Face it: December is hard enough to get through without also finding time to rethink your life. In fact, the holiday season itself is often a catalyst for wanting change.

So your first task is to experience and survive the holidays. Once you’ve achieved that much, and the New Year has begun, take time to assess your life. Take as much time as you need to probe what ails, frustrates or just plain bores you. Be brave and honest with yourself. And write down your revelations in a private notebook. If you make no record of your insights, they can easily fade as the demands of 2007, or any year, begin to mount.

Now here's the fun part. You probably have a list of great things you'd like to add to your life. Fine. But for each addition, find something in your life that you're finally ready to dump. In other words, make space for the new by eagerly getting rid of that old, soggy, rehearsed view of you.

You now go to a private place for the ritual of release. Find a symbol of what you want to release: a piece of clothing, books, or even a piece of paper on which you've written down the odious situation, person, habit or whatever that you're ready to ditch. Then ditch away. Take the clothing to the Goodwill. Books to resale stores or the dump. The paper you can burn or crumble or bend, fold and mutilate. Toss it out, all the stuff you don't want, and vow to never let it return to the vessel that is you.

Impossible? Nah. The old habits are hard to break. But there's a simple trick for making the unwanted unwelcome: reverse your thinking.

John Madden, sports telecaster and pitchman, was once the coach of the Oakland Raiders. Early in the season the team stunk and lost games. But rather than get angry and berate the players, he did the exact opposite. He praised them, encouraged, and the team responded and became a champion.

So don't be friendly when undesired habits, moods, people try to muscle their way in. Reverse your response. In fact, write down exactly what that means -- how you'll deal with it, in other words -- before you're faced with the intrusion.

Okay. Now that you've released you can revolutionize your life. From your list choose the one thing you would most like to add to your life. One reason resolutions lurk in the dark yet sleep during the day is they often drain each other fighting for your attention. Nutrition expert Gary Null, who believes radical diet changes are necessary to be truly healthy, is wise enough to know that change comes slowly. He advises his students to succeed at one thing before taking on more tasks. Follow his lead. Subordinate all minor goals to your major goal.

Now determine where you want to be by the end of the year. Since all journeys begin with one step, work backward and make a list of the things that you absolutely must do to achieve your goal. For some goals you may be unsure of how it will all work out. Fine. But I'm sure there are also simple, practical tasks that must be fulfilled to make a place for the revolution you hope to create. Make a list. (Yeah, I know, another list.)

Now take the list and assign them a completion date. Write them on a calendar or in a date book. One guy I know writes a date book for the entire year. On each day he writes detailed accounts of all the great things that will happen that day. He writes them as if they already happened. Vacations, new jobs, windfalls, romance - you name it, he writes it all down. Each day becomes fun for him: He gets to look at his date book to see how rich and rewarding and productive his life is.

Sound like a game? Yup. It is. But since resolutions are no fun, start a revolution by having what you want now -- even if it is only in writing - so that revolutionize your thinking and therefore your brand-new year. Good Luck.

© DoItYourself.com 2006