New Year's Resolutions

Have you kept to your new year's resolutions? Sadly most of us haven't, and many of us have given up trying. But why is this? Are you going to wait another 12 months before you try again? Many people give up if they fail once. You are putting unreasonable pressure on yourself if you do this.

In one of the British Heart Foundation publications I came across a lovely phrase: " A lapse is not a collapse". In other words, because you've failed once, it doesn't mean you've failed completely. Sometimes you have to fail several (or even many) times before you succeed. Thomas Edison said: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." It is said that Edison was asked how he could bear to have so many failed experiments, and he said: “I’ve learnt 700 ways not to make a light bulb.” I’m not sure if this story is true, but it really shows graphically the power of positive persistence.

So, pick yourself up and try again, but before you do – think again. Think about the goal you’ve set yourself, and ask yourself some questions: Is it worth achieving? Is this the best way to achieve it? Do I need help from others to achieve my goal? Should I break a big goal down into several smaller goals? Have I set myself too many goals?

Then be persistent and tenacious. Louis Pasteur said: “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity".

Make 2006 a year when you got closer to the person you could be:

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof." Barbara Kingsolver

Apparently a baby falls at least 1500 whilst learning to walk. Now that's an interesting thought - think of all those things that we would have never learnt as babies if we'd given up as easily as we do now!