Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.  ~ Mark Twain

Yes, we’ve heard: New Year’s resolutions seem almost destined to fail. But does that mean we shouldn’t bother at all?

Figure it this way: whatever resolutions you come up with bear some relevance to your life. Consider them indicators: areas that you’d like to work on. You don’t have to nail them. This isn’t a win or lose situation. It’s a time to evaluate and make some smart and possibly subtle changes.

If losing weight is your goal for the New Year, try to make the changes manageable. Instead of losing 50 pounds and fitting into that bathing suit by summer, why not simply include walking into your workout regimen? Instead of every day, maybe 2 - 3 days a week? You see the difference? One sets you up for failure where the other gives you some breathing room!

And if you “fail” at your goal, no self-recrimination. It’s a tough concept to master, but its that very self-recrimination that fosters and feeds the bad habit you’re trying to change! Go easy on yourself. Remember: we are all flawed human beings trying to do the best we can.

In short, walk don’t run this New Year!