Why Repeat the Failures of Previous New Year's Resolutions Yet Again?

"Every idiot who goes about with 'New Year's Resolutions' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart."

— With apologies to Charles Dickens

Let me be the first to say that.

And it should be in effect from now until January 31. When the world always decides to focus on something else.

Because — get ready for it — here we go again. Just like clockwork. That annual time for regrets, and a promise to do even better, given this supposedly new, clean slate.

And with even bigger, loftier goals.

The truth be told, what we're really doing as we try to plan out our resolutions is looking back and realizing just how bad we squandered the past 12 months.

How life always seemed to get in the way, and none of last year's promises — what were they now? I forgot — were ever fulfilled.

Hey — don't look at me like that. I'll admit it.

Guilty as charged.

So we sit down with great determination at the beginning of January, insisting we'll do it right this time.

As soon as we get all of those holiday decorations packed up and put away.

And clean up the house from all of that mess.

And figure out how we're going to pay for all those gifts that we went way over budget on (yup — another failed promise).

There's that life thing, getting in the way and interfering again.

The problem is, that list of goals you put together to achieve might get more aggressive than realistic.

Because, in the back of your mind, you remember that last year didn't work out as planned, and needs to be made up for.

So subconsciously you end up trying to cram 24 months' worth of goals and improvements into the next 12 months.

The same as you did last January.

And the January before that.

Sound familiar?

Does that old chestnut of "the definition of insanity" and all that jazz come to mind?

[?????????????????????? ???????? ????????: ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ????????????????, ?????????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ?????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ????.

???? ???????????????????? ???????? 12-???????? ????????????????, ???????????????? ???????????????????? ??????????????????. ?????? ?????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????????????? ???? ???? ???? ?????????? ???????? ?? ?????????????????? ?????????????? ?????????? ???? ????-???????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????????? ???? ?????????????? 1981 ?????? ?? ?????????????????? ?????????????????? ???????????????? ?????????????? ???? ???????????????? 1981.]

So, why not try a different approach this year?

Embrace the Japanese concept of Kaizen.

That comes from two words in that language: Kai, meaning change, and Zen, meaning good. Kaizen = good changes.

You may have heard of that concept in other personal development materials referred to as CANI.

Constant And Never-ending Improvement.

Tony Robbins is a great proponent of this approach.

Instead of making a list of audacious goals to achieve in the coming months, just simply focus on end-of-week evaluations of your life.

Each week, pick one skill, one chore, one exercise, one habit, etc., and decide what small incremental change you will make to improve upon it.

And stick to it.

Because one minor change is easy to implement and maintain.

When done, you'll have 52 weeks of small changes that build up upon each other. Like compounding interest.

And with no grandiose list of goals and schedules staring back at you and constantly gnawing at you.

This different approach might have you singing a different, happier tune this time next year.

Or, you can simply continue with that insanity approach that has worked so well for you in the past.

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