Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?  I’ve never been that enthusiastic about setting goals simply because of a calendar change.  Maybe it was because I knew so many people who had such grandiose ideas of how they were going to “turn over a new leaf” in the new year.  However, none of their friends ever really saw much change.   And sure enough, the next year, they’d be pulling out the same old ‘new’ resolution.  Still, with each passing year I find myself more inclined to reflect what things I’d like to have change in my life as the New Year rolls around.  I don’t know if it’s that I’m thinking differently or if my life is becoming more complex and therefore, is in need of greater retuning and recalibrating.  So, here are a few New Year’s resolutions that I’m setting for myself and some tips that I’ve come across for how to set New Year’s resolutions.

MY LIST FOR 2007:
1. Physical health:
Since my big Christmas/Birthday present from all my family this year was a weight set, I have as one of my biggest goals to get in better shape (yes, I always felt shafted by the combo B-day/X-mas present since my birthday falls on Dec. 23rd).  And along with this, I’m planning to make some small adjustments to some eating habits.  Nothing colossal I assure you.  Just a few tweaks like: (a) not feeling the need to “clean my plate” when eating out (although I still feel the residue of childhood guilt from being told that there are starving people in the world who’d be happy to finish my plate); and (b) not snacking on candy when watching a movie at home, but instead nibbling on something like carrots (oh joy!).

2. Spiritual disciplines:
I suppose we should always have a resolution in this category.  Not out of guilt.  Not out of a desire to earn God’s love and acceptance.  This sort of resolution should grow out of me in the same way that I’d like to be more thoughtful to my wife (demonstrating my love in those tiny tangible expressions that I too often neglect).  I should never feel like I’ve arrived when it comes to intimately knowing God and His character better.  So, this year, I’d like to be more intentional about blocking out time in the morning to read the Bible, reflect, listen, and pray before I check e-mails, make phone calls, and have appointments.

3. Personal relationships:
There is a real temptation for me to place my vocation above my wife and three children.  Not in any sort of way in which I would verbally or mentally express a belief that work is more important to me than they are.  But I find that a hundred insignificant decisions that I make can yell the superiority of work over the worth of my family.  So, this year, I will do better at leaving work at the end of the day on time, and saying no to “the tyranny of the urgent”—those things that clamor for and monopolize my time, but which are ultimately less important.  One of my professors once said to us in class, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.”  I didn’t understand what he meant at the time.  But now I think it has something to do with allowing myself to be less than perfect at those things which are further down on the list of priorities (this is more important for those of us who are, at our own fault, perfectionists).

4.  Financial matters:
Again, nothing life altering here, but I plan to cut some corners, eat out a little less, resist the desire to buy that thing which “is such a good deal I’d be stupid not to buy it.”

5. Organization:
There are certain rooms in my house which are off limits when guests come over.  They’re piled up with articles I plan to read when I have time, pictures we haven’t yet put in photo albums, and the things we no longer decorate our house with but feel we shouldn’t get rid of since there’s some sentiment tied to them (“I” more than “we”).  I’m a packrat by nature.  And sometimes I find that even my plans to get organized (e.g., buy a new shelf) are really only further enabling the accumulation of what I should discard.  So, this year, I resolve to go through those areas and give away or throw away those things which we haven’t used in the past 2 years.  If I haven’t thought about them for 2 years, I probably won’t miss them in the next 2 years.

TIPS FOR PERSONAL RESOLUTIONS:
1. Evaluate your last year’s resolution(s)
Have you succeeded?  If not, why did you fail?  Try to pinpoint the root reason why you didn’t achieve your goals.  It may be helpful to resolve to try again at the same resolution.

2. Set clear and realistic goals
Define what “a win” would be for you at various points of the year (e.g., at the end of each month, or every 3 months).  Allow yourself to build up to “the win.”  For instance, if you’d like to spend 1 hour each day in prayer and study, and you currently don’t do it at all, start with a realistic goal—maybe 10 minutes each day.  This way you won’t experience disappointment immediately. 

3. Be accountable to someone else
By telling someone else (especially someone who observes you all the time) you’ll act differently since someone else besides you will know when you “cheat!”

4. Set limits on your resolutions
Don’t create so many resolutions at once that it would require you to change your entire life.  As stated above in #2, this is unrealistic and will likely set you up for failure and guilt.  It may be best to set one goal at a time.  Also, don’t simply take someone else’s goal for yourself.  It may not fit into your personality and lifestyle.  Personalize the goal in a way that fits with how God has individually hardwired you.

5. Think about the long haul
As the Jesus encourages, “count the cost.”  Calculate the price and then decide to pay it one payment at a time.  Think through the sacrifice, risk, effort, and fortitude that will be required to achieve your goal.  Your goal is probably not just a goal for a day but for a lifetime.  It’s a journey! 

6. Set reminders for yourself
Once the excitement for life change passes from your emotions, you’ll be tempted to postpone that one “payment” of discipline, promising to make it up the next time.  Don’t postpone!  Remind yourself as often as possible what “the win” would look like if the goal were realized.  Journal about it, set online reminders, invite someone to ask you on a certain day of the week. 

7. Set up a reward for achieving a particular step
If you have clearly planned steps to achieving the end goal or “win,” (see above #2), have some way to celebrate or commemorate achieving a particular step.  Celebrate along the way in a manner that does not set you back in the long run.

8. Seek God’s wisdom and guidance
Ask God give you wisdom in all the decisions you make along the way to achieving a goal.  Ask him to reveal inappropriate heart-attitudes and desires that you might have.  Ask him to help you develop the necessary virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, faith, hope, love, etc.) in ways that you’re not even expecting.  Seek out biblical principles of wise living (e.g., read one chapter of Proverbs each day—there are 31!).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?
2. What are they usually about?
3. What tips have you discovered that have helped you accomplish past resolutions?

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