No more resolutions!

When he saw our surprised faces over the high volume of people working out, one of the managers at the neighborhood recreation center said: "I've seen it over and over; this enthusiasm only lasts until February".
‘Exercise more’ might be the number one resolution for most people who even bother to make a list. However, just as the enthusiasm for exercising wears out in a month, resolutions have a short lifespan for the big majority. For the last several years, one of my resolutions has been 'Write daily'. I have started a few journals, created a 'write about work' blog, and wrote down variations on schedules to include a daily 45 minute writing routine. But there is always bad weather, illness, stress, long commutes, dinner preparations, winding down... reasons that become excuses to leave blank several of my journal pages.  
Through the years, I have learned a few basics on making resolutions. One of the rules is to keep them realistic. Attempting to make radical changes in life such as ‘Eradicate negative thoughts from my mind’ has been proved counterproductive. Another rule is to keep a short list, ideally with no more than five resolutions in it. John Goddard would probably refute this rule, but very few of us have his capacity for commitment. The third rule is to make your goals measurable. ‘Be happy’ sounds good, but does not help you track your progress on a regular basis.
In his book ‘The Pathfinder’, Nicholas Lore challenges his readers to rename their desires and call them commitments instead. Following the same path, it might be a good idea to change the resolutions to goals, and to set a path to fulfill them. In that case, writing a list is only the first step in a series of tasks that will help you get through.
Once you have a list of the things you want to change, improve, or eliminate from your life, you might want to set a deadline to accomplish it. Separate time to evaluate your daily goals. Celebrate your successes. Determine a pathway to accomplish your goals. ‘Have a master’s degree’ will most likely fail if it is not backed up by specifics.
Finally, prepare for failure, but don’t give up. There are 365 days to keep trying, re-writing, and refining those commitments. Perhaps ‘Changing my resolutions into commitments’ will be first in my list for 2013.