That’s right. If you are happy with your life and don’t need any changes then you don’t need New Year resolutions. If you want to change or improve certain things in your life, you don’t have to wait for the New Year. And certainly New Year resolutions alone are not going to get you the results you want.

The most popular New Year resolutions seem to be:

1. Health related: lose weight, get healthy, get fit, quit smoking, quit drinking…
2. Money related: earn more, save more, get out of debt…
3. Relationships related: find a soul mate, improve relationships…
4. Other goals: job/business related, travel, learn something new, contribute…

And here’s why I believe most New Year resolutions fail:

1. No commitment. Interested but not committed. Nice to have but not a must. If not this year, there’s plenty of life ahead.
2. No belief. Goal setting doesn’t work for me. I am beyond any diet plan. I am not talented, skilled or lucky enough for…
3. No knowledge/skill. You don’t know how to go about achieving that goal. For weight loss, you need to know/learn about food and exercise. To get out of debt or to invest wisely, you need to know/learn the basics of finance. If it’s a sales goal, you need to improve your selling skills and so on.
4. No action. Procrastination. Excuses. I am going to start from Monday. It’s too cold/hot to go out running. Just one bite can’t make me any fatter. This is often due to reasons 1-3 above.

If the above sounds familiar, try something different this year. Don’t make any New Year resolutions. Instead, pick one thing that you really really want to change. And follow the tried-n-tested, never-fail, 4-step method for a few weeks/months. Once you have learnt and mastered that method, you can start on the next goal. Want to know about the 4-step method? Coming up in Sunday morning post!

[Photo of Tad Yeuang in South Laos. One of the things on my 2012 to-do list was to see the beautiful waterfalls of Laos and live in a village for at least two days. Check. See some more spectacular photos here, and a short video here.]