9:36 minutes (2.2 MB)
New Years resolutions are just around the corner. Learn how to set your goals and achieve them.  It isn’t rocket science--it’s all about how you approach them. Dave Foreman offers seven keys to finishing what you started and tips for a happier, healthier you.

Start the new year off right with resolutions for:

1. Yourself

2. Your Family

3. Your Planet

 

You'll drink champagne, you'll kiss your honey at midnight, and you'll wake up on January 1 with a pounding headache and lots of time to think about all the huge changes you need make in your life. Perhaps you'll resolve to end world hunger, or green your entire house. Grandiose New Year's resolutions are as easy to make as they are to break. This year, start small. Here are a few simple changes you can make to take better care of yourself in 2007.

It's early January—do you know where your resolution is? At this early stage in the New Year, you probably have a good sense of what it is that you resolved to change in 2006 and are quite possibly making it happen. But where will your resolution stand on February 1st?

“About 75 percent are successful in keeping their New Year’s resolutions for a couple of weeks,” says John Norcross, professor of psychology at the University of Scranton. Even with a strong start, most people have completely abandoned their resolutions by the beginning of February.

Josh Jackson, associate editor at lime.com and the writer of The Green Room, takes a walk through a city where cars are the rule. Are you burning fossil fuels and polluting when you could be burning calories and setting an example?

If your New Year's resolution is to lose the extra pounds that came uninvited for Thanksgiving and stayed right through Christmas, you might be seeking a little guidance on the best way to send those pesky pounds packing.

There's no shortage of doctor-sanctioned diet books dueling for your dollars; some have valuable advice while others are nearly worthless, if not downright damaging.

If you’ve resolved to get more excercise, save more money, or lighten your environmental footprint in the New Year, here's a way to achieve all three goals at once: Ride your bike to work once a week. As gas prices soar and traffic congestion worsens, more and more Americans are choosing two-wheeled transportation.

For great resources about how to navigate your city by bike, visit Thunderhead Alliance, a national coalition of state and local organizations advocating safe cycling routes and strong pedestrian rights for healthy commuters. Its member organizations are in over 100 cities in 47 states nationwide.

When you look at it, a New Year’s resolution is really nothing more than a commitment to breaking a bad habit. A vow to get in shape, eat better, or meditate more often is another way of announcing your plans to stop avoiding the gym, eating junk food, or skipping your daily meditation.

This clinical approach to resolution making can be the key to resolution keeping. Resolving to bring about massive change in your life in the course of one year is an incredible amount of pressure; simply deciding to change your behavior may add a degree of nonchalance that can lead to success.