New Year's Promises

We are now a few days into 2009 - how are you doing with your resolutions for the new year? Did you make any?

Recent studies suggest that fewer people are making resolutions and the ones that do make them are breaking those resolutions faster than previous years.

Here’s my advice for your New Year’s resolutions - don’t do them. Instead make one significant New Year’s promise. This is something that you will absolutely promise to complete by the end of 2009. It could be something personal or business related.

Why a promise? Because a resolution is nothing more than a wish, when it comes down to it. There’s no plan of action and no consequences if you don’t fulfill the resolution. Unless you have a Superman-like will of steel, the chances that you’ll keep your resolution for the entire year are minimal.

Think about it - if you are like most people, when you make a promise, you’ll do everything in your power to keep that promise. That’s because when we make a promise, we are putting our integrity on the line. Integrity is one of the the most important values that a person has. Think about this - we’ll be dishonest, just keep our integrity from being questioned - that’s how important integrity is. And no, integrity and honesty are not the same thing. Honesty is giving your word, integrity is keeping it. If we never give our word (make a honest commitment), then we don’t have to worry about keeping our word do we?

So what’s your promise for 2009? It’s not too late to make a promise for the year. If you need some accountability - e-mail me at matt@somedayisland.com with your promise. I’ll put it in my calendar to ask you about your promise at the end of the year.

Make 2009 a great year. Make a promise and keep it. You’ll be glad you did.

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