Ok.  My opinion is nay.

Nay. Nay. Nay….

• This year I’ll join a gym and go 5 times a week.
• Ok, this year I’ll join a gym and go at least 3 times a week.
• Ok, I mean it, this year I’ll join a gym and definitely go again after the 1st month.
• This year I’ll lose weight so that I can fit into that little black dress.
• This year I’ll exercise more.
• This year I’ll travel more.
• This year I’ll go through the attic.
• This year I’ll read more nonfiction.
• This year I’ll make more money.

Etc, etc, etc…

I have had discussions with so many of my friends about whether or not they make New Year’s resolutions, what they are and whether or not they end up keeping them.  And the collection of results gathered from this data has shown that even thinking about New Year’s resolutions gives them anxiety!

Often, people’s New Year’s resolutions end up being extremely lofty goals; ones that they try to convince themselves they’ll keep, but are difficult to uphold and ultimately they unintentionally set themselves up for failure.

And failing is not a great way to start off the year!  Certainly won’t help build up a healthy self-esteem.  Nor will it make you want to take the time to come up with some reasonable, attainable, and worthwhile personal goals.

And I do, strongly believe in personal goals.  Creating them for yourself, working towards achieving them and doing so.

I think that New Year’s day should be a kickstart for your brain to begin planning and scheming to come up with some new personal goals.  Not a day where you feel pressured to make some ridiculous “pie-in-the-sky” resolution.

Your personal goals don’t need to be instituted immediately, or within the month or even the first half of the year.  Just that you are thinking about embracing something new and exciting, an adventure, learning, building, fixing, teaching, reaching out, giving, etc is what’s integral. The feeling of accomplishment when you actually complete something that you’ve set out to do for yourself, is fantastic and will only further encourage you to push yourself to continued greatness!

The key is to be realistic with your goals.  The downer of setting expectations of yourself that are too high could crush your feeling of self-worth when you find that in reality you cannot possibly succeed.

Don’t try to reinvent yourself.  And don’t feel pressured to make your personal goal by Jan 1 or to finish it by Dec 31. Use the ball drop at Times Square as a reminder that you’ve got some projects or ideas on the back burner that you should take a look at again sometime soon!