Why You Need to Make a New Year's Resolution for 2018 ...

1. Make a Fresh Start

Whether you’ve just had a bad year or a great one, a New Year is a bright shiny new canvas just waiting for you to make your mark. You can put failures and regrets behind you. As Taylor says, “shake it off” and move onwards and upwards. If you had successes, use them as a springboard to even more success this coming year.

2. Shake It up

Are there areas in your life that are stuck in a rut? Ask yourself if you’ll be any happier at the end of next year if you keep doing the same things 24/7/365. A new year is a fantastic opportunity to embrace newness. Resolve to get out of that rut whether it’s career, relationship or financial related.

3. It’s a Challenge

How do we grow? How do we better ourselves? No one improves by accepting the status quo. You grow through challenging yourself and pushing yourself to do new things or things you don’t want to do. It is not easy keeping New Year’s resolution – they are challenging.

4. It Will Make You Stronger

As I said, it’s hard to keep to a resolution. But, accepting and pushing through a personal challenge gives you strength. By battling your own self-resistance you will achieve character growth.

5. Success Feels Good

Don’t you want to stick it to failure? Wouldn’t it be great a few weeks or months down the road to be able to celebrate your success in achieving your resolution? And this time next year, think how motivational it will be to look back on your success with resolutions this year. Success breeds success. A big win for self confidence.

6. You Fight Your Fears

There are lots of reasons we don’t tackle things we don’t like and continue doing things that aren’t good for us. A desire to change is so often stymied by a fear of failure. Making New Year’s resolutions gives you impetus to fight that fear.

7. You Owe It to Yourself

You only have one life so you should give it good stewardship. Why would you not want to be the best you can be? Many things in life are out of your control or influence. Why then turn down opportunities to move forward and be better in things you can control?

8. Dare to Swim Upstream

Do you not make resolutions because you think it is old-fashioned, because your friends don’t do it, because you/they think it’s silly? Why follow the crowd? Get outside that box. There’s strength in being contrary and unique. You can only win when you make resolutions AND stick to them.

9. You Can Positively Impact Others

In working on your own New Year’s resolutions you can motivate and inspire others. Even just changing your behavior can be a positive force, whether it’s becoming a model employee, a committed exerciser or just a nice person who considers others.

10. Resolutions Are a Result of Hope

I know that sounds cheesy but making New Year’s Resolutions kicks down the wall of cynicism that people hide behind when confronted with the need to change. A resolution is an acceptance that you want to change and can change. It is a hope that you can be better and do better.

Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to set New Year’s Resolutions?

How to set your resolutions:
Be simple and don’t set so many that you are overwhelmed. You will find it easier to set and keep to your New Year’s Resolution’s if you use the SMART method. Your resolutions should be
Specific
Measurable
Assignable
Realistic
Time-related

Resolutions take a lot of effort, grace, soul-searching and motivation to achieve. But hey, you’ve got a whole year to work it out.