New Years Eve

Tonight we are meeting friends at Dos Locos for a late dinner (8:30).  I'm guessing that will be the extent of our New Years Eve celebrating since we were not invited to any parties this year.  But we will be with our friends and eating good food, so it will be fun.  Perhaps when we get home we'll watch Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin banter back and forth until midnight.

A common New Years Eve custom (in the US at least) is to make New Years resolutions.  Many people find New Year's resolutions to be worthless, since most are not resolutions at all, but rather, wishful intentions that are forgotten within a week. Here are the top 10 most frequent New Year's resolutions:

1. Diet
2. Quit smoking
3. Exercise
4. Quit drinking
5. Quit procrastinating
6. Save money
7. Go to church
8. Wake up early
9. Quit cursing
10. Read the newspaper

I, on the other hand, like to make a few resolutions each year that I really work to achieve. For any chance at success one's resolutions must be realistic and measurable.  How else will you know for sure that you've accomplished them?

"Diet" is not a good resolution because there is no way to measure it.  If you loose 1 lb have you accomplished your resolution?  Technically, perhaps but "Loose 15 lbs" is a better resolution because its realistic and measurable.   

"Stop procrastinating" is not a good resolution, as there is no real way to measure whether or not you've done this.  Being more specific such as "do laundry every Sunday" or "clean the fridge on the 1st of each month" are examples of how you will stop procrastinating that you can measure.

"Save money" is not specific enough.  If you want to have $5K more in your savings account, make that your resolution.  If you want to go to Hawaii on vacation and you think it will cost you $5K, your resolution should be "Save $5K for Hawaii vacation".

One year my resolution was to entertain on a regular basis. Spouse & I picked a weekend in every month and invited friends over for dinner both Fri and Sat nights. The dinners were often simple but we had a LOT of fun. 

Another year my resolution was to sort, throw away, organize and file several bags/boxes of paperwork (ie: bank statements, paystubs, real estate documents, insurance documents, etc.) before April 15 when tax filings were due. What a relief it was to finally accomplish this!

So while you wait for the clock to strike midnight tonight and you ring in the new year with a toast, give some thought to a few realistic, measurable, new years resolutions and then work to accomplish them.

Happy New Year!