Resolutions Anyone?

It's that time of year again. Time for New Year's Resolutions. Jeffrey Gitomer wrote about it in his current newsletter. For that matter, so did Oprah in the current issue of her magazine.

Much like any goal, if you want to succeed, the experts say it's best to write down your resolutions. They should also be specific and measurable, with concrete actions that will help you achieve the outcome you are seeking.

So I will be writing down a few of my own this year. No, not here, though making them public would lend a certain impetus.

There is one interesting idea about making a successful resolution, or any successful change, that I recently discussed with a friend of mine. She is a doctor, and often encourages her patients to make lifestyle changes like loosing weight or to stop smoking. "Just try," she says, "Even if you fail, keep trying." It turns out the greatest predictor of success for people who loose weight and keep it off is that they have tried many times. They just keep trying until they get it right.

It's an interesting way to think about failure: that it is actually a part of success. Perhaps the more you fail, the more you learn. Or the more you fail, the more energy you are exerting, and eventually it pays off. Kind of like activity in sales. It is a numbers game, and the more you keep trying, the better your chances of eventually succeeding are.