The diet industry loves the New Year… every New Year. It’s by far the most popular time of the year to start a diet. For a good many people losing weight and eating healthier is their top resolution.
There is not much research to be found on the subject but I suspect the second week of the New Year is the most popular time of the year to end a diet.
Fitness clubs love the New Year even more than the diet industry because their memberships soar in early January. People sign up for a year, commit to monthly withdrawals from their bank accounts, get their tour of the facility and fitness assessment and then never see the inside of the place again. I had an executive of one of the big fitness chains tell me once that if even half of the “members” actually used the club they would have to triple the size of the facility to fit everyone in.
Regardless of the resolution they almost all have one thing in common, they are made out of good intentions. When we make a New Years resolution it’s because we really want to make a change; we know we need to and we are willing to make a commitment to do it.
Or are we?
So many people make resolutions because they are easy to. We make them in casual conversations with friends, sometimes we make them after a few beers, sometimes we might make them after a few too many beers. The beauty of making resolutions is that the less we think about them the easier they are to make.
The funny thing is, successful people rarely make resolutions. Successful people make plans. Real plans. Well thought out plans. Plans with steps, goals and time-lines.
They make plans with accountability built into them. They determine the investment they are willing to make in their plan. They know that success will likely require both a financial AND time investment. They know that a plan, at least a good one, can’t be made casually and shouldn’t be made after a few beers.
They know that the time they use to make their plan is an investment and not an expense. Most importantly, they know that a good plan will beat the best resolution 99.9% of the time.
Resolutions don’t create commitment, plans do!
As we end 2012 and begin a New Year, don’t SPEND time making resolutions, instead INVEST time making plans that will lead you to a more prosperous 2013!