Register Your Decisions

Editor's Note

"Out with the resolutions – In with the decisions“

So it’s January and time to reset our focus and goals. According to statistics, about 45% of American adults traditionally make one or more New Year’s resolutions. And although the word resolutions comes from the root word of resolve and resolve is defined as to decide, it has lost power.

The word resolution has lost its power and studies show that of the 45% who make resolutions:

- 75% make it past the first week
- 71% make it past two weeks
- 64% hold on for one month
- 46% forge through six months

Resolution, like so many words in our vocabulary has been watered down by overuse or lack of sincerity. Remember when a person’s “word” or a handshake was as good as a written contract? Probably not, because it was before your or my time and I was born in 1951.

When we make a resolution and then break it, we begin to chip away at our own self-worth. We lose trust and faith in ourselves and that’s extremely dangerous because at the end of the day we can really only depend on ourselves. We control our destiny. Our self-talk fuels our actions.

This is my recommendation. Instead of making resolutions this month, make a decision. Call it a decision. Doesn’t the word decision sound stronger? Of course it does. Think about it. Your past decisions were serious. You decided to get married, you decided to start a business, you decided to start a retirement account, and you decided to live where you live.

Let’s do our own study and improve the success rate.

We have set up a this link for you to register your decisions. You don’t have to tell us the exact nature of the decision. We just want to know how many you are making for 2011 along with a few other demographic questions. Your information will be logged into a data bank and this time next year we will send you a follow up email to rate your success.

Come on now! Aren’t your goals important enough to add a little power with a stronger word and a level of accountability through registering them?

Let’s work together this year by making slight adjustments that produce big results.