Why New Year's Resolutions Don't Work

A while back the Learning Annex asked me to teach another class on how to overcome procrastination. I remember thinking it weird that anyone who procrastinated would sign up for a procrastination class. Wouldn’t they just procrastinate signing up?

For those of you who have studied the art of setting goals, you may have discovered that most goals are never achieved and only 3 weeks after New Year’s day all resolutions are out the window. Why does this happen?

The reasons are endless; some delay goals, some forget about them, others change them and so on. The main reasons are different for each person; a faster explanation may be as follows: Most people are putting too many goals on their list and aim too high and then try to attempt the path on their own and without support. In addition, most people are too hard with themselves and at the slightest inkling of what feels like failure, they throw it all away. To add to this misery most people have a tendency to share their ambitious goals with those that have no business of knowing about them in the first place, because it’s as if they are just waiting in the bushes to pounce out and say: “Ha! I knew you couldn’t do it.”

There has to be a solution to changing our lives for the better – what is it?

First, go inside for wisdom and all answers. No, I’m not joking. We’re all different about how we look at goals and what they mean to us. One individual may have nightmares just thinking about a test, to another a test can be his greatest motivation to studying. For me personally the tighter a deadline and the harder the task, the more excited I get to achieving the goal. To others a deadline may be the most frightening thing ever.

For example, the most common New Year’s resolution of losing that holiday weight, or perhaps that of several holidays ago. No matter where you look you’ll find articles about how to lose that weight and what diet fad is new in Hollywood. In my humble opinion wanting to lose weight is the most useless and stupid New Year’s Resolution there is. It is cruel and rigid on your body, not realistic, causes overwhelm and is a pure path on putting your body straight behind bars. Prisons are meant to be broken out of, especially after those first 3 weeks in January are over and all New Year’s Resolutions have lost their appeal.

Perhaps trying this will work for you this year: Your goal this year is to always feel GREAT and to feel FIT.

Think about this, if you have one goal in mind and that is to feel great and fit, you have just stripped your scale of its rights. On the other hand, if you make it your goals to lose x-number of pounds then your scale becomes your say-all, your ruler, your king, your measuring stick, your boss. Instead let’s keep in mind that our bodies care for only the following; bodies want to feel cared for, fed with real food, satisfaction is a must, loved, caressed, hugged, paid attention to and used for what it was intended to (to move you around).

Are you getting it?


Order your body to take care of the weight loss part automatically. It was first created to work for you at its optimal capacity. The only thing you have to do is to pay attention to it, to listen to it, to love it and not to treat it right. Once your body feels that you are cooperating by showing it respect, it has no choice but to give you the same in return by bringing out the most gorgeous king or queen that you are already.

So this year make only one New Year’s Resolution: Respect yourself and your body, love yourself and your body, pay attention to your Soul’s wisdom instead of other people. Believe that you are protected by divine order. And the doors which open easiest for you in 2008 are the ones you are meant to walk through.

By the time you get to the end of 2008 and if you have faithfully held to this one desire, you will be in ecstasy, joy and amazement at how easy things fell into place for you this year. It’s pure magic indeed.

Wishing you a phenomenal year!